Kiplinger and CNBC.com to share content for special feature…

CNBC and Kiplinger announced a new feauture for which the two will share content…(via Talking Biz News)

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., May 18 /PRNewswire/ — CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and Kiplinger, Innovative News Leader since 1920, today announced an agreement in which CNBC and Kiplinger will share content for a special feature entitled “Investor Spring Cleaning: A CNBC and Kiplinger Special Report” on CNBC.com and Kiplinger.com beginning May 18, 2009.

Under the terms of the agreement, CNBC will provide articles to Kiplinger.com and Kiplinger will provide content from the magazine and its website to CNBC.com, the fastest growing business news site on the web. Each site will establish direct links to the other’s site.

“We are always looking for new ways to bring relevant content and coverage to our audience,” said Allen Wastler, Managing Editor, CNBC.com. “We are excited about this agreement with Kiplinger because it reinforces CNBC.com’s mission to provide its users with the most comprehensive and qualitative reporting and analysis.”

Anderson Cooper at UCLA

The UCLA Newsroom’s Elizabeth Kivowitz Boatright-Simon writes about Anderson Cooper’s appearance at the University’s 7th Annual Daniel Pearl Memorial lecture…

In response to questions from the audience, Cooper said he thinks there is far too much shouting on television and that he believes audiences today want the facts and not just to hear anchors talking. He said audiences need to see situations from many different angles and that he tries to provide this in his reporting. He also advised young journalists starting out in today’s Internet world to set up a blog and make a name for themselves online, and to report about people and stories they have access to that others may not.

Anchor Wars: 05/19/09

And the original sixty four are now down to eight. Today…

FNC’s Shepard Smith and HLN’s Robin Meade…

Final Tally: Smith…

Free for All: 05/18/09

What’s on your mind?

Anchor Wars: 05/18/09

Today, the end of Round 3…

CNN’s Anderson Cooper and MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer…

Final Tally: Brewer, in what has to be considered an upset…

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 05/17/09

What’s Hot:

The case of the missing Olbermann – City File ran wild with a story about Keith Olbermann taking time off from Countdown over a booking war with the Rachel Maddow show. Olbermann fired back hard at City File (and Gawker) by saying that his time off had to do with the passing of his mother.

Nancy Pelosi – Pelosi made herself topic 1 the latter half of the week as she escalated her (losing) war against the CIA.

Tucker Carlson – Carlson joins FNC and in the process joins an exclusive club: talents who have worked at all three cable news channels.

What’s Not:

Is it Live or is it Memorex? – MSNBC’s decision to run ancient taped programming instead of carrying Barack Obama’s Notre Dame address was a bad call all around. The network spent a lot of time covering the run up to the address but when it came time to cover the address the network suddenly grew weak knees.

MSNBC blows off Obama Notre Dame Address…

The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik chastises MSNBC for not covering President Obama’s Notre Dame address; something both CNN and FNC did do…

Both Fox and CNN provided wall-to-wall coverage of the activities at Notre Dame Sunday afternoon along with informed analysis and debate by analysts, experts and advocates on both sides of the abortion issue.

Kudos to both of them for blanketing this important cultural moment.

As for MSNBC, they should get around to putting their A-Team on it Monday night when they can show their two chief ideologues, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, making faces and heaping scorn on their political opponents on the right. That’s low-rent talk radio with a camera, not work worthy of a national news channel. And this one has the resources of NBC News behind it. Why don’t they just go all the way at MSNBC and show infomercials on Sunday afternoons?

Obvious point Zurawik missed: This episode should put to rest once and for all the notion that MSNBC is in the tank for Obama. If it were, it surely would have covered the address and done it in a way that would have been over the top. Yes, I agree they should have covered it (and this should raise serious questions as to why it wasn’t covered). But the fact that it didn’t, shows that the network isn’t about all things Obama all the time.

Glenn Beck Profile…

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s John Timpane profiles FNC’s Glenn Beck…

Many are the radio people who have crashed trying to make the transition to TV. Beck is “one of the few who have done it,” says Blazer. Sikahema calls his ease on-camera “unbelievable. He has somehow managed to do on TV what he does on radio – usually, it doesn’t translate. He’s just a natural.”

On set, you see close up that Beck’s energy has found a home. Inescapable is how loud he talks on camera. His manner is conversational – yet his volume reverberates throughout the set. Somehow, it not only works – it cranks. He’s famous for shouting, weeping, for that sense of an emotional volcano just beneath the surface, about to blow.

He begins his May 9 show, as always, with a high-energy shout-out to viewers: “If you believe this country is great, but there’s too much talk about change, and not enough action, or maybe too much change in a direction you weren’t expecting, declare yourself a 9/12-er, and come on, follow me.” With that, Beck strides to his desk.

Once there, he reviews what “the mainstream media” are covering. He jokes, speaks in dozens of character voices, makes faces (priceless faces), gestures. Sitting but not sitting still, he reviews the ill-advised New York flyover of Air Force One; the party switch of Sen. Arlen Specter, called “Spectator” and imitated in a gruff, old-guy voice; President Obama’s health-care plan (he simpers: “We’re gonna change the world”).

Senator Matthews Part 2?

Rush & Molloy try to stir the pot and revive Chris Matthews’ Senate hopes…or is Matthews just letting his ego run wild?

“Hardball” host Chris Matthews may still be mulling a Senate run. He crowed to D.C. party guests that a new poll shows Pennsylvania voters would prefer him to converted Democrat Arlen Specter by 28 points. Then again, Matthews, who stopped by the fete for his colleague Michael Smerconish’s new book, “Morning Drive,” may just be looking to improve his four-year MSNBC contract, which he just signed in March.

Mike Shields vs. Bill O’Reilly…

Mediaweek’s Mike Shields takes on Bill O’Reilly over O’Reilly’s war with the New York Times and the Seattle Post Intelligencer…

Well, I can think of another paper that is suffering too: The conservative (and terrific, I might add) Wall Street Journal, which Fox News’ parent company News Corp. purchased in 2007. Earlier this year News Corp. was forced to take an $8.4 billion write down on Dow Jones. And in its first-quarter earnings report, the company’s operating income from newspapers plummeted from $216 million a year ago to just $7 million this year.

Somehow, this hasn’t made it into O’Reilly’s analysis. (By the way, the Journal’s Web audience is up too.) Could knowledge of the Journal’s woes have escaped O’Reilly’s attention, being that he’s part of the same media conglomerate? It’s doubtful that O’Reilly knows the media business as well as, say, an analyst at eMarketer. But we also know he’s a smart guy. Could it be that Mr. No Spin Zone is engaging in some spinning of his own?

There’s another interesting aspect to O’Reilly’s anti-newspaper diatribe. During this horrid economic cycle, when millions of Americans are out of jobs and terrified about their future employment prospects, rooting for American businesses to go under seems way out of touch to me, especially for a commentator who’s constantly talking about sticking up for regular “folks.” It kind of sounds, well, un-American. But in O’Reilly’s view, this is the liberal elite getting what it deserves. The thing is, it’s pretty hard to be elite when you’re on unemployment or raising a family on a salary that’s been cut by 10 percent.

Bill, I’m suggesting you rethink your position here. You may not love the management at the SPI or the Times. You may even have a point regarding treatment of President Bush vs. President Obama. But was the guy who covered the Mariners for the SPI really a lefty communist who deserved to get canned? Were the junior reporters, and photo editors who worked at the Baltimore Sun, which just lost a third of its newsroom, too liberal in your estimation to participate in freedom of the press?

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 night…

Tucker Carlson joins FNC…

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes about Tucker Carlson joining FNC as a contributor…

After stints at CNN and MSNBC, Tucker Carlson is getting his pundit passport stamped by the third cable news network (and the most popular one of the three), the Fox News Channel.

Mr. Carlson will be a paid contributor for Fox, appearing on programs to talk politics. Might the former CNN and MSNBC talk show host become a host of his own program on Fox, too?

“I’m doing whatever they want me to do,” Mr. Carlson said in an interview today.

Paging Dr. Van Susteren…

Washington Whispers’ Paul Bedard Nikki Schwab recounts the story of Greta Van Susteren coming to the aid of Ana Marie Cox…

Alarmed, Van Susteren’s husband nudged Greta, who moved in on Cox. “She was like ‘I think I know what is happening to you. Don’t worry about it. We’re going to get you a Benadryl,’ ” Cox remembered a calming Van Susteren saying. A food allergy sufferer herself, Greta was ready with a backup plan: She carries an EpiPen epinephrine shot for her own emergencies. “If she hadn’t been there, I don’t know what would have happened. It would have been a thousand times worse,” says Cox.

Update: Greta comments…

Want the real story? (how do these rumors get started???!!)

First, NO, I DID NOT SAVE A WOMAN’S LIFE ON SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE WOMEN’S ROOM AT THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER. There was no one dying in the women’s room at the White House Correspondents Dinner….but there was a line inside the rest room. Every woman knows about these women’s room lines and you can see old friends or acquaintances in the lines or even meet new people. There is much socializing that can go on in that line….and ? well…read on..

Press Releases: 05/15/09

MSNBC (1)

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW LAUNCHES NEW iPHONE AND iPOD TOUCH APPLICATION

Free App Delivers Video, Photos and Top News Stories for Fast Growing Cable Show

NEW YORK – May 15, 2009 – Msnbc.com and Zumobi today announced the launch of The Rachel Maddow Show application for the iPhone and iPod touch, offering consumers a new way to enjoy Maddow’s smart look at politics, pop culture and current events. The free application — available now on the Apple App Store — delivers videos and photos, and allows consumers to easily access and respond to Rachel’s Twitter updates. Rachel Maddow hosts MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” featuring Maddow’s take on the biggest stories of the day, political and otherwise, including lively debate with guests from all sides of the issues, in-depth analysis and stories no other shows in cable news will cover.

Strategy Room changes…

Paidcontent.org’s David Kaplan interviews Jeremy Steinberg, FNC VP, Digital Sales & Business Development, regarding changes coming to FNC’s online program “The Strategy Room”…

Live, from 9-5: Among the coming changes, Strategy Room will be moving away from its pop-up video mode to an embedded style. Fox News is also working on dynamic ad insertions. But even though YouTube and Hulu have been pushing more long form video, the live, 9AM to 5PM streaming newscast will still bear more resemblance to TV from an advertiser standpoint, Steinberg said. There will be three breaks per hour and the programs will not be like It’s not like Hulu, where the breaks are built in. The site will run the spots, at seven minutes after the hour, then at 20 minutes and 45 minutes. Beyond that, the currently five-month old Strategy Room will rely heavily on brand integration, with TV screens behind the anchors featuring a particular marketer.

Who’s afraid of the big bad Wolff…

The Daily Howler gets the long knives out for MSNBC Primetime head Bill Wolff (and says it has more ammo to come)…

That’s why progressive cable has focused on the insignificant person, Prejean, rather than on someone more important. MSNBC has focused on Prejean so Wolff can run endless swimsuit tape, thereby letting Olbermann muse about those breast implants.

Why did Olbermann mention those breast implants twice? Rubes! Because that was the actual topic!

That, and the fact that Olbermann has a remarkable, long-time jones about trashing young women.

Bottom line: Wolff and his sick pal are corporate men. They play their tapes to drive their ratings, thus putting large bundles of cash in their pants. (Olbermann is paid $5 million to grab you with this nonsense.) We’ll tell you more about Wolff next week—about the answers which emerge from his world. But let’s start with this: He should have stayed in the Meaningless Realms from which he was plucked by this channel.

Free for All: 05/15/09

What’s on your mind?

Mika Defends Joe…

Mika Brzezinski defends Joe Scarborough in a letter to the New York Times…and manages to plug his new book in the process.

My television and radio co-host has spent the last five years being equally tough on Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington. Joe was one of the first TV reporters to criticize the Bush White House during Hurricane Katrina. And while others were writing of a permanent Republican majority, Joe was predicting the collapse of the G.O.P. because of its reckless economic policies.

On our TV and radio programs, and also in his latest book, Joe urges his party to be more moderate in temperament and more accepting of dissent from leaders like former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

Brian Williams: Average Joe?

I dunno, but I just can’t picture Brian Williams as a hot dog and Pepsi kind of guy. I would have figured him for a wine snob but we already know that’s not the case. Anyway, Inside Jersey’s Peggy McGlone profiles Williams…

Steve Capus, president of NBC News, says Williams’ Jersey roots are part of his success.

“He has a real connection with middle America,” says Capus, a Hoboken resident who has worked with Williams since 1986. “He stays true to his roots and who he is. He could go out to a black-tie event every night of the week, but he’d rather go home and watch a Yankees game with his son.”

Ratigan, Snyderman, and HD…

When MSNBC announced the Ratigan hire and the rather late June 29th kickoff I thought that was odd (and tweeted about it a bit while in Palau). Then MSNBC announced the Snyderman show which also launches on June 29th (which I also tweeted about while in Palau and proclaimed the show DOA sight unseen) and I said “Hang on, both shows on June 29th? What’s the connection?”

I couldn’t confirm it while on vacation (the internet was too slow in Palau and the internet cafe in Waikiki had a fast enough internet but really ancient systems) but a check of my blog revealed the answer. June 29th is the HD launch date for MSNBC.

So Ratigan and Snyderman’s shows will both launch the day MSNBC launches HD. This may be just the first shoe drop and more surprises are coming for MSNBC’s HD launch…

Anchor Wars: 05/15/09

Today…

FNC’s Shepard Smith and MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell…

Final Tally: Smith…

Rumor Mongering…

City File puts its foot in it regarding Keith Olbermann’s protracted absence from Countdown recently. I knew the story was BS even before I got to the update with Olbermann’s denial. The reason: something like Keith Olbermann storming off Countdown for three days in a tiff over a booking war with Maddow isn’t the kind of story that could be kept under wraps for nearly a month. It would have leaked out within days if not sooner. So the fact that this landed in City File’s lap just now should have been a big red flag for them. As to what Shuster said and whether it jived with reality or not, that’s an irrelevant point. Maybe Shuster didn’t want to reveal the family issue. Many talents take time off due to family issues but few are ever publicly reported. (via J$)

Down and Out…

Well today was a total bust. I slept through just about the whole day thanks to round 2 of this flu. I thought I’d turned a corner yesterday but it’s hanging around. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow and I can get the blog going properly…

Reboot…

Ok, I’m back. Still sick though. Will be bringing the blog back slowly the next 24 hours as I try to get back up to speed again. If you get bored, you can peruse some Tweets I did while I was in Palau regarding various things…

Free For All: 05/14/09

What’s on your mind?

Anchor Wars: 05/14/09

Ok, I goofed up the last Anchor Wars voting. It wasn’t Brian Williams and Lester Holt, which resulted in a tie. It was really Brian Wilson and Lester Holt. So the voting commences with the correct names this time…

Final Tally: Holt…