And Today…
CNN’s T.J. Holmes and FNC’s Martha MacCallum
Final Tally: MacCallum…
Archive for April, 2009
Friedman Out…
Posted in FNC on April 6, 2009 by icn2The Biz’s Hillary Lewis reports that FoxNews.com’s Roger Friedman is indeed out…
This afternoon, Fox News released a statement saying that Friedman would no longer be writing his column for Fox 411:
Fox News representatives and Roger Friedman met today and mutually agreed to part ways immediately. Fox News appreciates Mr. Friedman’s ten years of contributions to building foxnews.com and wishes him success in his future endeavors. Mr. Friedman is grateful to his colleagues for their friendship and support over the past decade.
Roland Martin Profile…
Posted in CNN on April 6, 2009 by icn2The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz profiles CNN’s Roland Martin…
CNN President Jon Klein says Martin “had a quality about him that made you stop and listen to what he had to say. I think it’s because he’s a professional journalist wrapped in a bundle of energy. . . . He lets you know how much he cares.”
Still, the 40-year-old Houston native might seem an odd choice to host Brown’s “No Bias, No Bull.” During the campaign, CNN used him as a liberal commentator who backed Barack Obama, regularly pairing him with a conservative. But Martin balks at being pigeonholed.
ad_icon“When you create these boxes, frankly, people only look at the boxes,” he says. “We have to open up our boxes and realize there are actually people out there who refuse to be driven by ideology or party labels.”
Martin says he isn’t a party-line liberal. He is opposed to abortion and backs the death penalty. He criticized the Obama administration for opposing school vouchers for poor students. He cast his first presidential vote for George H.W. Bush.
Klein says Martin’s left-leaning stance is not a problem because “now we’re asking him not to express his point of view but to host interesting conversations among a range of people.”
The Hazards of Live TV: #25,001
Posted in CNN on April 6, 2009 by icn2Always keep an eye on that little red light on the camera…
Five Ways to fix CNBC?
Posted in CNBC on April 6, 2009 by icn2Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman has a plan…
In the first quarter, CNBC threatened to make more news than it broke.
If you’re optimistic about CNBC’s prospects, you’d chalk up this period of transition as the sort of upheaval that goes on all the time in the hurly-burly of the television-news business. If you took a darker view, you’d conclude that CNBC was out of control behind the camera as well as in front of it.
SuggestionsCNBC can regain its stride after these snafus and embarrassments. Here are five suggestions:
Glenn Beck Profile…
Posted in FNC on April 6, 2009 by icn2New York Magazine’s Michael Idov profiles Glenn Beck…
He’s called himself a “rodeo clown,” but he insists his own outrage is no act. A “libertarian, big time,” he compares the moment he heard about the first round of bailouts to “another 9/11.” And though his vision of the future is nothing less than apocalyptic—we could be heading into “the darkest period in American history”—in delivering it, he sounds less angry than hurt. Last month, he gave a sobbing sermon of consolation to disenfranchised conservatives (“They don’t surround us. We surround them”) that’s now a YouTube classic. Is he afraid that crying might become his trademark? “Yes, it bothers me. I’m a crybaby. I cry at commercials. I am 90 percent chick in that territory. I’m such an easy target. I’m surprised SNL hasn’t come after me.” (Sure enough, Stephen Colbert gets around to mocking Beck the next night, making him seem like a teary militia member.)
The Escalade exits the highway and weaves down an idyllic road between generously spaced-out Tudor mansions. “Lots of empty houses here,” says Beck, pointing at a blue Sotheby’s sign flapping at the top of one driveway. Does it feel strange to be prospering when the world, in Beck’s opinion, is going to hell? “I’m actually grateful,” he answers, “because we’ve been able to help people with our wealth.” We stop in the middle of a perfectly semi-circular driveway. George Washington’s so-called Personal Position Flag (with thirteen six-pointed stars) hangs from the mansion’s front window. Beck’s prized possession is a few pipes from a pipe organ in a church where Washington prayed.
“We were thinking about putting you in the trunk for the way back!” he says before disappearing inside.
Bill O’Reilly Interview…
Posted in FNC on April 6, 2009 by icn2Liz Smith interviews Bill O’Reilly…
LIZ: I’ve known you almost 40 years, Bill, and in the early days, I just thought you were a good-looking news guy, but I admit I wasn’t prescient. I had no idea you’d turn out to be such a big deal! Maybe it was your conviction, your ambition, and maybe a Harvard education helped.
BILL: All those things helped. I always knew I would succeed but nobody could have possibly predicted success at this level. My work ethic was always strong, ever since I started in Scranton, PA, in 1976. I just said to myself, “Look, I’m going to work as hard as I can and I’m going to have fun.”
But it takes a lot of luck to get where I am. I’d give it about a million to one given my personality and the fact that I never kissed anybody’s butt. But still, if I wasn’t having fun then I’d always go get another job.
If you add up the reruns of the show every night — our eight o’clock show appears on the West Coast and at 11 here, and adding that, we have more than five million viewers a night. So in a cable universe, we’ve accomplished a lot. And you know what I’m proudest of? BillOReilly.com — and all the money from the website goes to charity. This year we’ll donate close to a million, helping Habitat for Humanity, children’s charities, help for the homeless. This goes directly to the community. Every penny!
Anchor Wars: 04/06/09
Posted in Anchor Wars 2009 on April 5, 2009 by icn2Today…
MSNBC’s Lester Holt and FNC’s Trace Gallagher…
Final Tally: Holt…
What’s Hot/What’s Not: 04/05/09
Posted in What's Hot/What's Not on April 5, 2009 by icn2What’s Hot:
Roger Friedman – Is he fired or not? Nikki Finke says he is. Danny Shea suggests he isn’t. Yet.
Ed Schultz – Schultz gets his own MSNBC show at 6pm…
MSNBC beats CNN in the morning and primetime Demo – A win is a win and this can’t be good for CNN.
What’s Not:
MSNBC beats CNN in the morning and primetime Demos but still loses by double digits in Total Day – Viewers are tuning out on MSNBC somewhere for this to happen. Probably Dayside.
Page Six – Page Six portrayed MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell as in tears night and day over losing her 3pm timeslot. O’Donnell slapped Page Six down hard…
Carlos Watson: Anchor – Surprisingly, I haven’t heard any grumblings yet about non-journalist Carlos Watson becoming a news anchor for MSNBC.
Stern fans strike again – Their latest victim? FNC.
FNC’s Roger Friedman Fired?
Posted in FNC on April 5, 2009 by icn2Deadline Hollywood Daily’s Nikki Finke scoops that FoxNews.com’s Roger Friedman has been fired… (via TVNewser)
News Corp like all major Hollywood studios takes the crime of piracy very seriously. Nor will the Fox parent company tolerate it if its employees don’t. Especially after a stolen, early and unfinished work print of 20th Century Fox’s big summer blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine was put onto the Internet illegally this week in a major scandal that the FBI is now investigating. So there was universal shock on Friday when long-time “Fox 411″ freelance columnist Roger Friedman wrote what I’m told his bosses felt was a blatant promotion of piracy on his Fox News web outlet. Besides writing a review from watching the purloined print of Wolverine, Friedman posted, “I did find the whole top 10 [movies in theaters], plus TV shows, commercials, videos, everything, all streaming away. It took really less than seconds to start playing it all right onto my computer. I could have downloaded all of it but really, who has the time or the room? Later tonight I may finally catch up with Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man. It’s so much easier than going out in the rain!” I’m told that Fox News’ actions were swift and severe. First, Roger Ailes, who overseas Fox News, deleted the offending post after he was contacted by 20th Century Fox about it. And then Ailes fired Friedman as a freelance Fox News entertainment writer. I hear the move was done with the full support of News Corp. “He promoted piracy. He basically suggested that viewing a stolen film is OK, which is absolutely intolerable. So we fired him,” a source told me Saturday. “Fox News acted promptly on all fronts.”
Update: The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea suggests that Friedman isn’t fired yet…
FoxNews.com entertainment columnist Roger Friedman has drawn the ire of News Corp bosses after writing a review of a leaked version of the upcoming 20th Century Fox blockbuster “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” — and he’ll have to answer to Fox News executives in a meeting Monday morning.
Bill O’Reilly Interview…
Posted in FNC on April 5, 2009 by icn2The Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin interviews Bill O’Reilly…
O’Reilly, too, says there’s nothing surprising about the strength of Fox News in general or his program in particular.
”Which party is in power in Washington doesn’t matter to my show,” he says. “To other people who do political shows, it does, maybe. But I’m doing a watchdog show. Washington is just a small part of what we do. . . .
“I rarely use congressmen as guests — once in a while, when politics is really at the top of the news. But my show isn’t driven by politics. It’s driven by good writing, interesting topics, and what we feel people will respond to.”
Though last year’s presidential campaign inevitably impacted his show, O’Reilly says he made a conscious decision to move away from politics a couple of years earlier when cable-news audiences began lagging.
”When Bush started to lose control of the country in his second term, when the war in Iraq went south, there was a malaise in watching cable news, period, because people were depressed,” he says. “People were asking themselves, `What’s going on over there? We’re losing men, and we can’t get a straight answer.’
“Supporters of the war were disappointed, and they stopped watching. The people who were against the war, most of them were good people who just didn’t think it was a worthy cause, and they didn’t want to celebrate that the war was doing badly. They stopped watching. I recognized that pretty quickly, and I shifted in more culture-war stories.”
No UPS Factor boycott…
Posted in FNC on April 5, 2009 by icn2NewsMax writes about the UPS boycott of The Factor which wasn’t…
Did UPS back out as an advertiser on the popular “O’Reilly Factor” Fox News show, as MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann reported last Tuesday?
Absolutely not, UPS has said in a statement.
After Olbermann went public with his claim, UPS quickly issued a statement refuting Olbermann’s charge that the company pulled its advertising from Bill O’Reilly’s top-rated show.
As of Sunday evening, MSNBC had still not issued a retraction.
Ken Jautz Interview…
Posted in HLN on April 5, 2009 by icn2TV Week’s Sergio Ibarra interviews HLN’s Ken Jautz about HLN’s ratings successes…
Mr. Jautz, executive VP for CNN Worldwide and head of HLN, suggests that growth for HLN, not only over the last quarter but over the last four years, resulted from changes to its programming.
“It’s been very gratifying and it’s been a validation of the programming strategy.” Mr. Jautz said.
HLN, formerly known as Headline News, chucked its 30-minute, 24-hour-cycle news format in 2005, in favor of daytime news programming and evening commentary shows. The strategy for the network was to create an alternative to the comprehensive news shows already established on CNN.
“I liken it to a newspaper, where CNN is the news pages of the paper and HLN in primetime is the op-ed pages of the paper,” Mr. Jautz explained. He said HLN’s primetime shows are meant to be personality-driven programs with points of view.
HLN’s evening lineup consists of “Issues With Jane Velez-Mitchell,” “Nancy Grace” (which occupies the 8 and 10 p.m. hours), “Lou Dobbs Tonight” and “Showbiz Tonight.”
The four titles posted increases ranging from 18% to 82% among total viewers quarter-over-quarter, and grew between 31% and 90% among viewers 25-54. Of those programs, Ms. Grace’s 8 p.m. show posted the biggest gains and ranked as the 15th biggest regular cable news show among total viewers (though Fox News claimed 10 of the top 14 shows).
What’s Hot/What’s Not: Submissions…
Posted in What's Hot/What's Not on April 3, 2009 by icn2Post your nominations for this week’s What’s Hot/What’s Not. I’ll post the finalists on Sunday night…
Opinion over Fact Reporting?
Posted in Miscellaneous Subjects on April 3, 2009 by icn2Variety’s Peter Bart writes about the economic crisis, forecasting, and the state of cable news…
Given the onrush of breaking news, TV news junkies on the surface seem to be turning to opinion (even hyperbole) over factual reporting. The shrill voices of MSNBC and Fox News seem to be drowning out the muted and meticulous reporting of CNN, at least in the most widely watched hours.
So will TV news become a sort of video version of the op-ed pages?
The basic facts are all too familiar: Bill O’Reilly continues to lead the pack, averaging 3.4 million viewers a night. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Keith Olbermann has come on strong but can’t resist a nightly anti-O’Reilly blast, and there is evidence of a distinct slide when Rachel Maddow commences her often-wonky perorations.
Amid all the clamor, CNN’s Jonathan Klein insists he’s happy with his network’s numbers. And CNN was in full action mode last week covering the hard news of London’s weird protests. Besides focusing on the long shots of crowds, CNN’s cameras were zeroing in on individual demonstrators, tracking their Twitter posts and anticipating their moves.
It’s refreshing, after all, when someone wants to tell you what’s actually happening, however surreal, rather than trying to explain the cosmos in one ideological soundbite.
What’s up with Brian Wilson?
Posted in FNC on April 3, 2009 by icn2From a J$ email…
New weekend schedule shows no Brian Wilson show on Saturday. He’s still reporting, doing a twitter segment tonight on SR. But even odder, all his posts on Facebook and almost all his Tweets (except for the two most recent) seem to have vanished.
Interesting. There may be nothing to this. Then again there may not…
Update: The schedule changes are interesting. On Saturday, The Journal Editorial Report and Fox News Watch move to the 2pm hour. Rick Folbaum and Molly Line get an hour at 6pm. I think they’ve added a Beck repeat at 5pm too (though that may have already been on the schedule, not sure).
The Hazards of Live TV: #25,000
Posted in Hazards of Live TV on April 3, 2009 by icn2Stern fans strike again…
Discontent at MSNBC?
Posted in MSNBC on April 3, 2009 by icn2The New York Post’s Page Six has some MSNBC people talking out of school. The Norah is “crying all night and day” sounds like embellishment to me.
“It’s ridiculous,” an insider said. “They told us all about the changes at 8:50 p.m. — 10 minutes before they told the rest of the world. And poor Norah. What’s she going to do now? She’s been crying all night and day. Just out of the blue, they take her show away. Nice, real nice.”
Other employees are scared for their jobs.
“They also quietly hired Carlos Watson as an anchor but won’t say for what show yet,” our source said. “So everyone is wondering who else is going to be bumped.”
Here’s an unanswered but important question. Will all this shuffling result in less live news than currently exists?
Anchor Wars: 04/03/09
Posted in Anchor Wars 2009 on April 2, 2009 by icn2Today…
CNN’s Alina Cho and HLN’s Richard Lui…
Final Tally: Cho…
Go for the Youth…
Posted in MSNBC on April 2, 2009 by icn2Broadcasting & Cable’s Marisa Guthrie writes about Phil Griffin and Chris Matthews’ appearance at Cable Show today…
“We’re going to win the battle with younger viewers,” said Griffin, adding that MSNBC does sell in the 18-34 demos. “That’s the battle we’ve staked out.”
MSNBC’s first quarter ratings success, its best quarter in its 12-plus history, vindicates its strategy of programming opinionated, obviously partisan hosts rather than simply delivering news sans point of view, which is the territory CNN has staked out.
“This is a tremendous moment for MSNBC,” said Griffin. “[CNN] has the best brand in television news. But we’ve got quality programming.”
Matthews was quick to note that while many of MSNBC’s hosts approach their programs from a certain side of the ideological divide (“We call it like we see it,” he said), they are always “fact-based.”
“There are a lot of programs on the air that are not fact-based. And I have a real problem with them,” said Matthews. “We all know who they are. There’s a new one on the air right now.”
Hmmm. Who is Matthews referring to? I thought Glenn Beck but the “right now” part of Matthews’ sentence rules Beck out because his show hasn’t aired yet today.
FNC in an Obama World: Chapter 2…
Posted in FNC on April 2, 2009 by icn2The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron writes about FNC in an Obama world…
For the first quarter, all three major networks — FNC, CNN and MSNBC — will show increases in daylong figures for total viewers and adults 25-54. CNN, however, is down 9 percent in prime time in total viewers and 21 percent for adults 25-54. MSNBC is up 24 percent and 7 percent, respectively, in the two prime measurements.
The trust that Shine cited can manifest itself in many forms, including the possibility that people tune in to have their opinions reinforced rather than challenged. But one of Fox’s newer hosts, Bret Baier, who succeeded Brit Hume as host of the afternoon Special Report show, disagrees with the idea of host and viewers marching in lock step.
“A certain type of viewer with one kind of ideological spin wanting to watch one type of show because that is what they like to hear … I don’t see it,” Baier said. “There are days we cover every kind of story. And so, on any given day, you will see something on our show you won’t agree with, depending on your point of view.”
Shine also rejects the idea of validation while acknowledging that one reason for Fox’s success is that it has a feel for what viewers want to watch.
“TV has always done that. It’s a producer’s job to put on a TV show that people like or that interests them,” he said. “I don’t agree with the word ‘validation.’
“What I think we have done well in the past few weeks and months is discussing issues or bring perspectives that viewers might not get elsewhere. … I would say we approach things with a healthy skepticism.”
MSNBC to go HD June 29th…
Posted in MSNBC on April 2, 2009 by icn2MSNBC announced when it will go HD…
MSNBC will begin telecasting in 1080i High Definition on Monday, June 29. The announcement was made today at the Cable Show in Washington, D.C., by MSNBC President Phil Griffin.
“MSNBC is in the best competitive place its ever been, beating CNN in primetime last month and continuing incredible growth,” said Griffin. “Broadcasting in HD is only going to help us build on the great success we’ve had so far this year, and will give viewers what they’ve been asking for, a full high definition broadcast of MSNBC.”
For the first time ever, MSNBC beat CNN in weekday primetime for the month of March in both total viewers and Adults 25-54. MSNBC was also the number one cable news network among younger viewers, Adults 18-34, in primetime in March, and in the morning. In March, MSNBC also beat CNN at 8 p.m. among both total viewers and A25-54 with “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” at 9 p.m. in A25-54 with “The Rachel Maddow Show,” and 6-9 a.m. in A25-54 with “Morning Joe” for the first time since August 2001.
Building on the NBC News HD infrastructure already in place, MSNBC launches 1080i High Definition utilizing two full HD capable control rooms, integrated HD graphics, and new HD commercial integration master control and distribution systems. Since October of 2007, MSNBC has been telecasting from two HD-ready studios.
Bill O’Reilly Interview…
Posted in FNC on April 2, 2009 by icn2The New York Post’s Cindy Adams interviews Bill O’Reilly…
And how many hours a day does it take Bill O’Reilly to manipulate America’s minds?
“I gave up radio three weeks ago, so my attention’s no longer divided. For my nightly 8 p.m. show, I start 8 a.m. I write it all myself. The staff of 15 meets 7:30 every morning. Working for me, you’ve got to be a Navy SEAL. No mistakes. I need facts, or it’ll get rammed down my throat. I read all the magazines and a dozen newspapers daily from all over — Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco — so I’m not just New York-centric. I read two to three books a week instead of watching TV. I try to absorb so I can give the best information because we’re not ideologues, we’re fact-based opinion makers.”
And those 10 minutes a year he’s maybe not working?
“I’m not one to hang out. I don’t like boring people. So I do softball, ice hockey, neighborhood sports. I go fishing. I’m a diver. That means I go underwater so nobody can find me but the fish.”
..and the Sharks. But the east coast? Come out to California Bill and dive Pt. Lobos…
Anchor Wars: 04/02/09
Posted in Anchor Wars 2009 on April 1, 2009 by icn2Today…
FNC’s Neil Cavuto and HLN’s Robin Meade…
Final Tally: Meade…
In Depth: More Changes Coming to MSNBC Dayside?
Posted in In Depth, MSNBC on April 1, 2009 by icn2Lost in the news of MSNBC’s ratings win over CNN in Primetime was a stunning set of figures supplied by CNN…
In March, in total day, CNN averaged 638K total viewers, a 43% advantage over MSNBC’s average of 446K. FNC had 1.216 million total viewers. Additionally, CNN has a +16% lead over MSNBC (195K vs. 168K) among P25-54 in total day.
Why is this stunning? Because MSNBC beat CNN in Primetime (8-11) in P2+ and the Demo and beat CNN in the Morning Demo (6-9). According to CNN’s figures in M-S primetime CNN eeked out a victory in the Demo.
And yet in Total Day MSNBC lost to CNN by 16% in the Demo and lost handily in Total Viewers. Here’s another aspect in the CNN/MSNBC ratings competition. According to information relayed to me by the people at TV by the Numbers, last week (3/23-3/29) across all shows and day parts MSNBC had 38 airings that averaged 500,000 viewers or more. CNN had 110. CNN killed MSNBC by a nearly 3:1 ratio.
The question is where in the schedule is MSNBC bleeding viewers like that? They won from 6-9am and 8-11pm, and if you throw in MSNBC’s “Sales Prime” stat, which is internal only to MSNBC and not a metric used by CNN or FNC, they won in the Demo from 7pm-2am (251,000 vs. 248,000).
This leaves two spots where MSNBC lost enough viewers that CNN was able to beat it in Total Day: 3-6 am and 9-7pm.
Read more »
Ed Schultz gets MSNBC’s 6pm timeslot…
Posted in MSNBC on April 1, 2009 by icn2The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea scoops that Ed Schultz will get the 6pm timeslot previously occupied by David Shuster…
Huffington Post has learned that radio host Ed Schultz will be announced as the new host of the 6 pm hour on MSNBC. The announcement is due shortly, likely during “Countdown.”
Here’s the release which also says that Shuster and Tamron Hall will anchor a show from 3-5 and Norah O’Donnell will move to mornings:
Read more »
Anatomy of a Leak…
Posted in CNN, FNC, MSNBC on April 1, 2009 by icn2This TVNewser piece on Rachel Maddow’s show and its ratings “decline” is interesting. Not sure it’s conclusive as the show dropped off heavily after the election but has stayed within a range ever since, but it does underscore the need for an MSNBC 10pm show if the network wants to ensure continued success vs. CNN in primetime.
However the real question is: who fed this to TVN? They didn’t decide to whip up this chart on their own. It was sent to them. But the question is by whom? FNC or CNN? Who has more to gain by leaking this out? I’m not sure at this point.
