Packus Interruptus…

Ok, I’m not gone. Yet. I had to mothball the blog to handle all the final details…like figuring out the logistics of getting three weeks of travel out of one week’s worth of clothes where laundry costs upwards of $1.75…per article of clothing.

But that doesn’t mean I still don’t have an eye on what’s going on and if something is just too good to not write about, I’ll write about it.

Case in point: Gizmondo catching CNBC’s Jim Goldman in a very awkward position. Gizmondo is a frequent critic of Goldman but this time I think they have him dead to rights and I’d love to hear Goldman’s side of the story…

Look, there are some valid reasons to pick a Mac over a PC, just like there are valid reasons to pick a PC over a Mac. But you shouldn’t smear blatant horseshit all over them, especially when it’s already confusing enough for regular people, your audience, Mr. CNBC Silicon Valley Bureau Chief.

Update: No wonder the figures Goldman tosses out look so familiar. Reader Rob points out they’re pulled straight out of this piece by Arik Hesseldahl in BusinessWeek. Did I just miss the credit to BusinessWeek or Hesseldahl?

Blogus Interruptus…

SFO-HNL-GUM-YAP-ROR…

Free for All: 04/20/09-05/13/09

Behave yourselves while I’m gone. I modified link blocking to allow up to 2 links per comment. More than that and it’ll be sitting in the holding bin for quite a while…

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 04/19/09

What’s Hot:

Tea Parties – They dominated the news this week, for better and for worse…

Taking a stand – Nice of Joe Scarborough to note that all the teabag talk shouldn’t have happened.

Palau – Palau is hot. Average temperature 90 degrees. Average water temperature 82 degrees. Average humidity 80%. Hot…

What’s Not:

Susan Roesgen – Grace under pressure? How about a meltdown?

Teabaggery – It was childish and shouldn’t have been part of any news network.

Tobin Smith – Way to go, taking a moment to work your network into a Tea Party speech…

FBN’s new studio…

Broadcasting & Cable’s Glen Dickson writes about FBN’s new studio and a graphics change…

Fox Business Network will give viewers a brighter look at the world—or at least Midtown Manhattan—starting April 20, when it begins broadcasting from a new high-tech studio on the east side of the News Corp. building with expansive views of New York City action to the north and east.

The multi-million-dollar Studio G facility, which is supported by a new high-definition control room, was built on the former roof of a two-story outcropping on the east side of the News Corp. building at 1211 Avenue of the Americas. The studio space, which has seven windows that look out on the street, now reaches up to the fifth floor of the building. The new roof has been set up for live outdoor shots in warm weather with paving stones, a broadcast service panel and wireless-mike connectivity back to the studio.

The studio itself, which launches with the 7 a.m. ET broadcast of Money for Breakfast, is designed to provide a variety of set looks. Three main moving floor parts rotate and pivot into different configurations, and a movable staircase connects to a standup location above the studio. The 3,500-square-foot space is also outfitted with a variety of hi-def displays to show real-time graphics and video.

“There are a lot of ways of telling a story here,” says Warren Vandeveer, senior VP of operations and engineering for Fox News, who gave B&C a tour of the new set as members of the Money for Breakfast team, including anchor Alexis Glick, did rehearsals last week.

Out of sight, out of mind?

Patterico’s Pontifications notes that CNN has had You Tube version’s of Susan Roesgen’s meltdown removed from the service…

I’m sick of people knocking embarrassing videos off YouTube with bogus copyright violation claims.

The latest culprit is CNN, a network that was recently embarrassed by a video of reporter Susan Roesgen cutting off tea-party protestors in Chicago, and assailing them with silly liberal talking points. The blog Founding Bloggers showed up on scene and caught her in further arguments with angry citizens who noted her biased coverage. I posted the Founding Bloggers video on Thursday.

But guess what happens when you click on it now?

100 Days of Obama…

The AP has CNN’s plans for Obama’s 100th day in office…

The network says it will compile a national report card of Obama’s performance, using opinion polls and a series of viewer surveys.

The big night is April 29, a week from this Wednesday, pre-empting regular programming.

Most of the anchors and commentators who were CNN regulars on political nights last year will appear.

“This is the perfect day to have commentary about how the president is doing and the perfect day to ask the public how they think the president is doing,” said Sam Feist, CNN’s political director. He’s been planning the 100th and 200th day specials since shortly after the election.

Drip, Drip…

Looks like someone associated with Cavuto’s show leaked an email thread to Gawker…

Update: Likely not leaked. Came from Smerconish’s book probably…

But Fox, from the sound of things, is by far the most blunt and ham-handed in dealing with pundits. Here’s an email exchange between Smerconish and a producer for Neil Cavuto:

Cavuto producer: “Wanted to see if you’re available today at 4:05 for Neil’s show today. The topic is on Obama and his cockiness. We’re looking for someone who will say, yes, he’s cocky and his cockiness will hurt him.”

Smerconish: “Thanks for the clarity. I am not your man.”

Cavuto producer: “What about a debate off the top on the show on whether or not Hillary is trustworthy? We have someone who says she is and we’re looking for someone who says she isn’t.”

Clearly television news networks need to spend more time deeply examining the facts around important political questions and less time presenting staged debates on manufactured Beltway non-issues. Kind of obvious at this point.

Sunday Rumble…

The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz writes about the Sunday talk show landscape…

No one, including Gregory himself, expected the former White House correspondent and cable host to be another Russert — a garrulous, working-class storyteller and prosecutorial interviewer. Gregory is a sharp, diligent and well-prepared host who asks follow-up questions. But he is not what you would call an outsize personality, and his sharp wit has remained mostly hidden.

Gregory displayed “little energy and virtually no passion” on a recent program, writes Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik. “And that is the opposite of what made Russert so compelling to watch.” The new moderator is polished, writes Newsday critic Verne Gay, but “seems more intent on covering the waterfront than digging for news, or in pushing the talking heads off their talking points.”

Gregory says he is “letting loose,” not holding back, and his executive producer, Betsy Fischer, says he is pinning down guests. When the new General Motors chief executive, Fritz Henderson, said his pay had been cut 30 percent, Gregory asked him how much he will be making. The answer: $1.3 million.

“We’re dealing with a major recession,” Fischer says. “Excitement is not necessarily something that is called for. David is very passionate about preparation for the show.”

More FNC Weekend Schedule Changes…

More FNC weekend tinkering. Saturday, Brian Wilson is back at 12pm. Julie Banderas and Greg Jarrett lose and hour to Rick Folbaum and Shannon Bream at 4pm. Folbaum and Bream are back again at 6pm. (via J$)

Fox and Friends vs. Olbermann

(via J$)

What’s Hot/What’s Not: Submissions…

Post your nominations for this week’s What’s Hot/What’s Not. I’ll post the finalists on Sunday…

The State of News…

TV Week’s Josef Adalian writes about the state of news as he sees it…(via J$)

The executives who run the cable and broadcast news outlets have heard all of these complaints before. I am far from the first print-based media columnist to whine about the tabloidization of TV news.

What’s more, it’s worth noting that the print world is hardly immune from the move away from hard news. Ink-stained wretches once content with getting their bylines in print now spend big chunks of time figuring out how to build themselves into brands, the better to compete with the oversized personalities who populate the blogosphere.

And as noted above, there’s still plenty to appreciate about TV journalism, from Ms. Mitchell’s gentle grilling of world leaders to Katie Couric’s fair and balanced treatment of Sarah Palin and other key figures of the 2008 campaign.

Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to appreciate the very real talents of those in the TV news business when so many of their bosses seem hell-bent on serving up as little real news as possible.

In Depth: Show us all the Numbers! Or Stop Showing Us Part of the Numbers!

Buried in today’s Hollywood Reporter article on the biz nets was this paragraph…

FBN, though, has a lot of catching up to do given that it only launched a year and a half ago, reaches fewer homes and is on digital cable tiers. While Nielsen doesn’t officially track FBN or Bloomberg, figures obtained by THR show FBN was up 155% in March over the year-ago period, averaging nearly 40,000 viewers.

Ok, this had to be a leak. But by whom? Given the positive spin, I have my suspicions. And note there was no similar leak about Bloomberg’s numbers, which implies that only certain numbers were fed to the Hollywood Reporter. If these figures were indeed leaked by FBN then it’s time for the network to release the numbers officially, no more selective ratings leaks. They’re already past the subscriber threshold for Nielsen rating. What’s holding up the process is, apparently, agreement between Nielsen and FBN regarding the measurement mechanisms. Until then, numbers aren’t supposed to get out. But we’ve seen several leaks regarding FBN’s numbers. Some were most definitely not leaked by FBN because the stories concerning them would be considered negative. Others, however, were positive and in conjunction with interviews of FBN talent which suggests an FBN leak.

Claman’s “Countdown to the Closing Bell” is the network’s highest-rated show during market hours; it averaged 38,000 viewers last month, a big jump from fewer than 20,000 in September. (The figures, obtained by The Washington Post, are not released by Nielsen because Fox Business is not a full-time client.)

These two leaks are sort of like the mole part of whack-a-mole. FBN’s ratings suddenly pop up and then dissapear behind the Nielsen firewall again. Put all the ratings out for all to see. If the Nielsen ratings methodology is stable enough for a selective FBN leak, then all the numbers should come out. If they aren’t stable enough, then how can one print numbers that aren’t considered valid?

The MSM should refuse to publish any more FBN numbers, whether leaked by FBN or anyone else, until Nielsen is fully rating FBN. This trickle here, trickle there by FBN and other networks to make the network look good or bad is baloney and should be stopped. Or, FBN should move to have its numbers made public and let the chips fall where they may. Both FNC and MSNBC got rated faster after launch than FBN has. FNC and MSNBC were rated within a year of launch, give or take a few months. It’s been well over a year and a half and we still haven’t gotten numbers for FBN. And the network started at a higher stage in the Nielsen rating process (Fledgling Subscription Stage) than either MSNBC or FNC did when they launched (Access Subscription Stage), which makes the lag in public ratings for FBN all the more glaring.

CNBC 20: CNBC Closes the NYSE…

Geraldo Rivera: Reality TV Star?

Well I guess since Tucker tried it, it’s not entirely unheard of…I wonder who does Geraldo’s show while he’s gone? Or is FNC going to do his show via Costa Rica remote? Now, that would be interesting TV… (via J$)

Update: This story is BS…

Biz Net Free-for-All…

In a must read for the number of names that are interviewed in it, The Hollywood Reporter’s Georg Szalai and Paul Bond write about CNBC, FBN, and Bloomberg in the era of a financial meltdown…

Hoffman says the channel interviews about 140 guests each day, up from 40 in 2005, before he was named president. That way, the nicher can maintain a bull-bear balance and what he calls “a culture of qualitative conflict.”

But CNBC’s reliance on talking-head financial analysts have left it exposed to criticism that it is part of the Wall Street establishment that failed to foresee the meltdown. The recent face-off between Cramer and “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart was a telling indication of just how much influence, for better or worse, such financial gurus now wield, but also how coziness with the Street can be a liability.

“People are looking to find out why the crisis happened,” Bartiromo says in defense of the channel. “It’s fair game to include journalists in that process, but to blame CNBC is silly.”

CNBC has also recently been under fire from liberals who perceive a sudden rightward tilt, especially since a February rant against the mortgage bailout from the network’s Rick Santelli.

Still, given these perceived misteps, upstart rival FBN senses it is time for it, too, to take some potshots.

Encouraged by a relative audience surge in the past five months, the Fox nicher is aiming to chip away at CNBC’s substantial market share.

One way is with its four-hour call-in show on Saturdays when CNBC is awash in infomercials. “The phones ring off the hook every time we do it,” FBN exec vp Kevin Magee says.

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,001

(via Clusterstock)

Uh…happy birthday CNBC…

Free for All: 04/17/09

What’s on your mind?

FNC Takes FOIA Action Against DHS…

Johnny Dollar has the audio from the Brian and the Judge radio show where they note that FNC has sent a Freedom of Information Act letter to the Department of Homeland Security over getting access to the classified version of the “right-wing extremism” report that was commissioned by the Bush Administration as well as an FBI/Justice Department report which preceeded the DHS report. Oddly enough there’s apparently no request to see the classified version of the “left-wing extremism” report which was commissioned at the same time.

NBCU Down…MSNBC Up…

Media Post’s Wayne Friedman writes about NBC Universals Q1 2009 numbers…

Net profits sank 45% to $391 million in the first quarter ending March 31, from $712 million in the previous period. Revenues slipped 2% to $3.52 billion from $3.58 billion.

One bright spot: cable revenues at its networks — USA, SyFy, CNBC, and MSNBC — continue to grow at a healthy rate.

“While cable continued to deliver double-digit growth, NBC Universal had a tougher performance overall, due to a soft advertising market and fewer major DVD releases compared to a year ago,” said chairman/CEO Jeff Immelt of General Electric, NBC Universal’s owner, in a release.

CNBC Celebrates 20…

Today is CNBC’s 20th Anniversary. This morning select members of the CNBC staff rang in the opening bell for the New York Stock exchange. Most have been with the network the entire time. Among those present: CNBC President Mark Hoffman, NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker, CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo, Sue Herera, Mark Haines, and Erin Burnett.

CNBC will also ring today’s closing bell remotely from the CNBC newsroom in Englewood Cliffs…

Anchor Wars: 04/17/09

Today…ouch!

MSNBC’s Lester Holt and MSNBC’s Brian Williams

Final Tally: Oh snap, it’s a tie. Both go back into the bowl…

Forked Tongue?

The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea catches CNN President Jonathan Klein in a contradictory position…

Of course, the TV buyer’s point may be somewhat weak in that “being the most-watched cable news network on election night” plays into CNN’s positioning as the dominant news brand — but Klein’s comments dismissing the primetime demo fly directly in the face of comments he made a year ago, when the network was doing better on the strength of primaries and debate coverage.

In April 2008 article celebrating CNN’s win in the primetime Adults 25-54 demographic, Klein stressed the importance of the same daypart he dismissed last week:

Though Fox was still No. 1 in prime time for all ages and other categories, CNN officials said winning the 25-54 demographic is crucial from a business perspective.

“That’s the demographic that advertisers are buying,” CNN/US President Jonathan Klein said.

Klein’s comments were echoed by CNN’s EVP of Ad Sales, Greg D’Alba, who recently told Multichannel News, that “TV ratings are important,” but “it’s about how you define winning. We have a tremendous reach advantage that touches more customers and gives our clients opportunities to sell more products.”

Karzai does GPS…

This week on Fareed Zakaria GPS, Zakaria has an exclusive interview with Afghan President Hamid Karzai—his first interview since his last appearance on GPS in February. Karzai will discuss his recent controversial legislation and his differences with the Obama administration and their plan for Afghanistan. Here’s a snippet…

Fareed Zakaria: So let me ask you, you signed a law recently that put into place a kind of Muslim personal law for the Shia of Afghanistan, this is a law that many regard as quite reactionary it requires that a woman take permission from her husband before she leaves the house. It allows the husband to have sex forcibly with the woman, with his wife even if she says no. President Obama has called this law “abhorrent.” You said you didn’t want westerners interfering in this, but now you have Afghan women marching in opposition to this. Why did you sign this law?

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan: Nobody knew that the law included these details and neither the Ministry of Justice nor even some people who worked on this law, did not find these articles in the law while they were working on it. Once I came to know of this law and details of it, I asked Ministry of Justice to come and inform me in details to what it is, what should be done about this. Now I have instructed in consultation with clergy of the country that the law be revised and any article that is not in keeping with Afghan constitution and Islamic Sharia must be removed from this law.

Joe Scarborough vs. MSNBC’s Primetime Left Wing…

TVNewser notes that Joe Scarborough took a big ol shot at Olbermann, Shuster, and Maddow (and Anderson Cooper at CNN) for all the teabaggery that’s been going on the past few days.

Update: Video (via Olbermann Watch)

Finally, someone has a moment of sanity about this issue and the guts to speak the truth on the air (I don’t count Red Eye’s criticism which was less about the issue of good taste and more about sticking it to the other guys). The teabaggery was in bad taste. Shuster started it and others followed suit. Nobody at Standards and Practices at NBC seemed to care. Or if they did care, they turned a blind eye. This isn’t the Daily Show or the Colbert Report. It’s a news network. Show a little class. And Anderson Cooper? Bad move dude. You’re usually smarter than to get caught up in something like that.

New FBN Set Coming…

FBN’s Liz Claman teases via a Tweet…

More rehearsals on new FBN set. I am loving this eye-in-the-sky view of NYC with state-of-the-art background. I think u guys will love it

Free for All: 04/16/09

What’s on your mind?

Not a Smoking Gun…but…Someone’s Probably in Trouble…

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank writes about yesterday’s Tea Party protest in Washington D.C. and what FNC/FBN analyst Tobin Smith had to say. Methinks Bell may get a talking to…(via Chickaboomer)

Young girls wore T-shirts printed with the message “Don’t tax me, bro” — a play on a protester’s famous “Don’t tase me, bro” cry at a John Kerry event.

Those messages might explain why Fox News, though actively promoting the “tea party” protests for tax day, tried to argue that it was not behind yesterday’s coast-to-coast events. But Fox News analyst Tobin Smith, who took the stage in Lafayette Square yesterday, evidently didn’t get the memo. “On behalf of Fox News Channel,” he told more than 500 mud-spattered demonstrators, “I want to say: Welcome to the Comedy Channel of America, Washington, D.C.”

After a few preliminaries, he went into a Fox News commercial for anchor Glenn Beck. “Anybody watching Glenn?” he asked to cheers. “That was a shameless plug, wasn’t it? Glenn says hello as well. He’s out at another tea party.” Indeed he was, as were Sean Hannity and Neil Cavuto.

Obama Bashing at CNBC?

Page Six has some alleged dirt on a pow-wow at 30 Rock regarding CNBC’s Obama coverage…

“It was an intensive, three-hour dinner at 30 Rock which Zucker himself was behind,” a source familiar with the powwow told us. “There was a long discussion about whether CNBC has become too conservative and is beating up on Obama too much. There’s great concern that CNBC is now the anti-Obama network. The whole meeting was really kind of creepy.”

One topic under the microscope, our insider said, was on-air CNBC editor Rick Santelli’s rant two months ago about staging a “Chicago Tea Party” to protest the president’s bailout programs — an idea that spawned tax protest tea parties in other big cities, infuriating the White House. Oddly, Santelli was not at the meeting, while Jim Cramer was, noted our source, who added that no edict was ultimately handed down by the network chieftains.

CNBC flack Brian Steel confirmed the get-together, but insisted: “The dinner was to thank CNBC for a job well done in our in-depth reporting throughout the financial crisis. As far as our coverage is concerned, we are built for balance and we are unabashedly pro-investor.”