Blogus Interruptus

Blogging resumes mid day Friday…

Examining Lou Dobbs…

The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove writes about Lou Dobbs. This is that part that some are going to be kibitzing about…

“I never talk about Lou Dobbs,” said Kaplan, now executive producer of The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. But Tom Johnson, CEO of CNN between 1990 and 2001, was more forthcoming in a revealing email he sent to me this week:

There always have been the “Good Lou” and the “Bad Lou.”

I experienced both Lou’s during the 11 years I was CEO of CNN.

The good Lou is and always has been a favorite of Ted Turner.

They pioneered CNN together.

Lou’s shows have been major revenue producers. Big advertisers wanted to be in Lou’s shows.

Ted often protected Lou when I and other CNN executives were ready to fire him. Ted saw Lou’s immense talent, and they were (and still are) good friends.

[...]

It almost is impossible NOT to really like the Good Lou. He’s warm, funny, well informed on issues, and a charming bear of a guy. I like that Lou very much.

The Bad Lou is stubborn, wants his way or the highway, shows signs of being an only child—as I am. Spoiled rotten.

Free for All: 08/06/09

What’s on your mind?

Charlie Rose to Bloomberg…sort of…

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes that PBS’ Charlie Rose show will be repeated the next day on Bloomberg TV…whifch raises the question “How do you cut up a nearly 60 minute commercial free program and make it fit on commercial TV?”

In a deal that is expected to be announced on Thursday, Bloomberg will rebroadcast Charlie Rose’s show in prime time around the world. The arrangement marks one of Bloomberg’s boldest steps yet to refashion its programming to better compete with CNBC and other channels.

The pact will take effect in September, Bloomberg officials said Wednesday.

The one-hour program will continue to be syndicated to PBS affiliates in the United States, as it has since 1991; the editions will be replayed the next evening on Bloomberg.

It’s OVER!

Oh, Brian…what have you wrought? Anyway, the truce/deal/agreement/whatever is dead. Done. Over. Finito. O’Reilly put GE and CEO Jeffrey Immelt front and center in his talking points memo. This was followed by O’Reilly talking more GE/Immelt with Dick Morris…

Olbermann Responds to Dobbs…

And throws in jabs at FNC too. Meanwhile O’Reilly went after GE and Immelt. I had a choice, watch Countdown and see Olbermann go after Dobbs again or watch The Factor and see whether O’Reilly would say anything knowing he hadn’t so far. So I chose Countdown. I’ll have to watch the Factor replay at 11pm.

Olbermann’s “Rovian” Ways?

The Huffintgon Post’s Jason Linkins calls Keith Olbermann out for his response to the “deal”…

This reality is borne out by Olbermann’s perplexing reaction to the controversy, which has been to blow hot snot all over New York Times reporter Brian Stelter’s reporting, while simultaneously “honoring” and praising the accuracy of Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald’s response, which was based entirely on Stelter’s reporting. One cannot decry one report, one minute, and then “honor” the same conclusions the next. On Monday’s broadcast he called Brian Stelter one of history’s greatest monsters for a day. But then he declared in a statement that Glenn Greenwald’s account, which deviated not one iota from the facts Stelter presented, contained “nothing materially factually inaccurate.” This is what is known as “total B.S.”

Long after the edict of June 1 went into effect, New York Times reporter Brian Stelter sussed out the agreement between the two networks and began reporting it out. When contacted by Stelter, Olbermann could have done one of the following:
Story continues below

1. Tell Stelter the unalloyed truth.
2. Refuse to comment on the record.
3. Attempt some Rovian-style parsing of the truth.

Again, it’s clear that Olbermann chose that final option. What he told Stelter was this: “I am party to no deal.” But that statement has no practical meaning whatsoever. As Greenwald points out:

Dobbs vs. Olbermann…

Damn it’s like a cable news battle royal this week. Now Dobbs is returning Olbermann’s fire and threatened to tell all about “his tenure at CNN if he wants to play those games”. Oooooh…

Beck/Gibson vs. Olbermann

(via Olbermann Watch)

Free for All: 08/05/09

What’s on your mind?

CNBC’s July Ratings…

Daily Finance’s Jonathan Berr has CNBC talking about its July ratings slump…

CNBC, which attracts about 241,000 viewers during a broadcast day, rejects Roush’s criticism. Year-to-date through July, ratings in the key demographic and for total viewers “approximately matched our measured ratings for the first seven months of 2008,” said Jennifer Dauble, a CNBC spokeswoman. CNBC’s Web site gained 1.5 million viewers in July and its mobile WAP site saw a 2,000 percent gain in page views from a year ago. Ratings also rose in Europe and Asia, she said.

“CNBC is stronger and better than it has ever been which is probably why we just completed yet another record breaking quarter and first half for revenue and operating profit,” Dauble told DailyFinance in an email.

CNBC has the same problem that other cable news channels face: people like to tune at times of great uncertainty or turmoil. When times are getting better, they lose interest. For CNBC, there is the added problem of viewers becoming numb to the drumbeat of bad news.

Mike Huckabee Profile…

Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman profiles FBN’s Mike Huckabee…

It’s easy for television viewers to find common ground with Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate who now hosts the highly rated weekend cable news show “Huckabee” on the Fox News Channel.

In a “compassionate conservative” movement, Huckabee, 53, would be the real deal with his natural warmth and country pragmatism. Watching him connect with the studio audience at his show, it’s easy to see why he was successful on the stump.

His love of rock and roll and blues music is genuine — to the point of including a musical segment in each show and telling me that his dream guests were Paul McCartney and Keith Richards. Huckabee is a dedicated bass guitarist, himself. In fact, I spied five guitars when I interviewed him in his office at Fox’s headquarters (Fox, like MarketWatch, is owned by News Corp.

CNN Targets Cable Operators Regarding Dobbs Ad…

Wow. CNN is doing just about everything wrong it possibly could do wrong on this Birther story. First it decides the story is dead but lets Dobbs continue to discuss it on the air, giving the impression that Dobbs is off the reservation. Then Jon Klein backtracks publicly at the TCA to give Lou Dobbs some cover. Now CNN is putting pressure on cable operators not to run an ad on CNN attacking Dobbs. I’m not talking about CNN refusing to air an ad, which is predictable. But this appears to be working behind the scenes to keep the ad off of cable operators local ads which networks ostensibly have no control over (which is why DirecTV viewers have been seeing FBN ads on MSNBC the past few weeks). The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes about the story…

CNN has worked with the cable operators that carry its channel to block the commercial, which was produced by the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters. According to a CNN employee who requested anonymity, CNN managers said in a morning staff meeting that the channel had invoked unspecified agreements with operators to stop the ad from running.

I could see why CNN would want to do this but if the story leaks out, which it now has, it makes the network look that much more desperate. And that’s a bad move someone should have considered before going down this route.

Olbermann vs. Dobbs…

Bill who?

Deal or No Deal?

And the posturing continues. Today Salon’s Glenn Greenwald writes about Olbermann’s on air statements regarding “the deal” and has a statement from Olbermann himself…

As for the piece I wrote on Saturday, my basis was, quite obviously, Stelter’s NYT article. But my basis for the added facts about the GE/Fox deal which I wrote in yesterday’s piece were statements made in not-for-attribution emails from a person who has first-hand knowledge of GE’s newsroom edict. Today, after I told Olbermann that his on-air denial last night had made it appear that what I wrote was untrue, when we both knew it was entirely accurate, Olbermann issued the following on-the-record statement to me about this matter (emphasis added):

I honor Mr. Greenwald’s insight into the coverage of GE/NewsCorp talks, and have found nothing materially factually inaccurate about it. Fox and NewsCorp have continued a strategy of threat and blackmail by Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, and Bill O’Reilly since at least 2004. But no matter what might have been reported by others besides Mr. Greenwald, and no matter what might have been thought around this industry, there’s no “deal.” I would never consent, and, fortunately, MSNBC and NBC News would never ask me to.

I certainly believe that Olbermann is telling the truth when he says he was never a party to any deal and that nobody at GE or MSNBC asked him to consent. That’s because GE executives didn’t care in the least if Olbermann consented and didn’t need his consent. They weren’t requesting that Olbermann agree to anything, and nobody — including the NYT’s Stelter — ever claimed that Olbermann had agreed to any deal. What actually happened is exactly what I wrote: GE executives issued an order that Olbermann must refrain from criticizing O’Reilly, and Olbermann complied with that edict. That is why he stopped mentioning O’Reilly as of June 1.

So what are we to make of all this? There’s a deal, except there isn’t? Olbermann isn’t a party to it, except he is? I don’t think Olbermann went willingly. But he went.

Press Releases: 08/04/09 Part 2

MSNBC (1)

Msnbc.com wins prestigious award

National Press Club Awards site with 2009 online journalism award for The Elkhart Project

The President of the United States will answer msnbc.com readers’ questions in Elkhart tomorrow

REDMOND, Wash. – August 4, 2009 – Msnbc.com captured the National Press Club’s Online Journalism Award recognizing its original web-based journalism for “The Elkhart Project” (http://elkhartproject.msnbc.com). The Elkhart Project won the National Press Club’s (NPC) Joan M. Friedenberg Online Journalism Award for its dramatic multimedia presentation of how one community hard-hit by the recession is struggling to survive and preserve its community spirit. Msnbc.com launched The Elkhart Project in April 2009 as a special editorial initiative to tell the story of the nation’s economic crisis through the eyes of the residents of Elkhart, Ind. The Washington-based National Press Club (NPC), the world’s most renowned press club, presented the 2009 awards Monday evening after evaluating 139 entries in 18 categories.

Press Releases: 08/04/09

CNN (1)

CNN Reaches More People Across More Platforms for Second 100 Days

CNN.com to poll the country by web, phone, text messaging and Facebook

Anchors Wolf Blitzer, Campbell Brown and Soledad O’Brien will lead CNN’s second prime-time special focused on analyzing President Barack Obama’s presidency and airing report cards from CNN contributors and the general public. The CNN National Report Card: Second 100 Days airs from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday, August 6. The network will give viewers the opportunity to grade how President Obama, Congress and other elected officials have handled the second 100 days in office and how the country is progressing on significant issues.

Willie Geist Interview…

The Village Voice’s Brian Parks interviews MSNBC’s Willie Geist…

We’re pleased to see that our Morning Joe favorite Willie Geist has finally been given his own TV show. Way Too Early With Willie Geist now leads off MSNBC’s morning schedule, airing (if one “airs” on cable) at 5:30 a.m. (That’s 2:30 a.m. Pacific time, where the show is no doubt known as Way Too Late With Willie Geist.) Among other highlights, Brian Williams, Maureen Dowd, and Donald Trump have all phoned in from their beds to chat with Willie. Rod Blagojevich is scheduled to call on Monday, perhaps from a bed in a country with which we share no extradition treaty.

On the occasion of his new show, we sent Willie some questions about our local baseball teams. His replies demonstrate yet again Willie’s well-deserved reputation as the Ring Lardner of morning cable news programming.

Free for All: 08/04/09

What’s on your mind?

A Wolffe in Sheep’s Clothing?

The Huffinton Post’s James Moore writes about MSNBC analyst Richard Wolffe and his ties to a high powered consulting firm…

Think of all the large corporate brands that exist in America and chances are quite good that you have just thought of a company represented by PSI. When Bridgestone/Firestone got sued for exploding tires, they called PSI for strategic crisis communications counsel and to media train its executives. Obviously, I believe that every company, just as every person, has a right to tell its side of a story. However, I do not believe that Richard Wolffe can be considered an analyst by MSNBC when he works for a company offering counsel to corporations that can reasonably be expected to benefit from his perspective stated on network television. Is it fair, for example, for Wolffe to provide insight on the political fight over health care if PSI is representing big pharma? MSNBC can disclose the companies that Wolffe is working with for PSI at this precise moment in time but its client list changes and grows regularly. What Wolffe says during his employ at PSI cannot, under any circumstances, be expected to be unbiased. Perception is reality in politics.

And the reality is that Richard Wolffe is now being paid to present a specific point of view that serves PSI’s clients.

Tonight Keith Olbermann announced that Wolffe would be off Countdown for the forseeable future…

I am confident his commentary to this point has not been compromised – he has been an insightful analyst and a great friend to this show – but until we can clarify what else he is doing, he will not be appearing with us. I apologize for not being able to prevent this unhappy set of circumstances from developing.

Egregious Demands?

An uncredited story in World Net Daily concerns World Net Daily’s Joseph Farah and a challenge issued to Bill O’Reilly regarding the birther story and how O’Reilly’s staff invited him on only to have Farah issue a bunch of “requirements”…the TV version of a “rider” I guess…for Farah to appear. I wonder who the mystery person was who wrote this story and the pointed self-serving headline? (via J$)

In turn, Sliwa presented Mitchell with a short list of criteria for Farah’s appearance:

* Though a sober and civil discourse is always welcome, shouting is not;

* No other guests on during the segment with Mr. Farah;

* Discussion to be limited to the facts of the story;

* Accurate, approved description of Mr. Farah and news organization he represents;

* Screen ID chyron to be approved by Mr. Farah.

In turn, Mitchell replied that he would have to “discuss his requests with Bill.”

Two hours later, the reply from Mitchell came back: “I’m afraid that is not going to work for us.”

Gee, I wonder why? Would anybody accept these kinds of restrictions?

Olbermann blasts Stelter, O’Reilly, and Murdoch…ending “Truce”: Update…

One last thing regarding Olbermann’s comments tonight regarding the “deal”. Olbermann says there’s no “deal”. Ok. Fine. Setting aside all evidence suggesting otherwise, let’s take that it face value that there was no deal. Then why was TVNewser reporting that Phil Griffin addressed MSNBC staffers today to talk about the whole thing? More specifically, why did Griffin talk about the what was discussed between himself and Olbermann regarding “the agreement”. If there was no deal, then why was there any talking about an “agreement”. This just does not add up. It’s a total contradiction.

And From O’Reilly? Nada…

While Keith Olbermann was all tied up blasting The Times, O’Reilly, and Murdoch, over on FNC the Times deal story caused Bill O’Reilly to whip himself into a frothing mass of….silence. Nothing. Not one word. O’Reilly, no fan of the Times who has blasted them for far less, said nothing. Interesting.

This move could be analyzed from a dozen angles. Was O’Reilly quiet because he wanted to keep up his end of the deal? Was O’Reilly silent because he wanted to see if Olbermann would violate the truce first (in which case he could play the victim tomorrow night and then resume blasting GE)? In some ways O’Reilly’s silence could be considered a tacit admission that the Times story was true. But then that itself could be part of a strategic move on FNC’s part; by being silent it lends an air of credibility to the story.

This is getting so complex it makes the birther saga pale by comparison. It’s a conspiracy theorist’s dream come true…

Olbermann blasts Stelter, O’Reilly, and Murdoch…ending “Truce”…

Tonight Keith Olbermann addressed the Brian Stelter “deal” story by putting Stelter on the WPiTW list for quoting his denial while going ahead with the story. Olbermann went on to say that this was a misinterpretation of his “retiring” of O’Reilly on June 1st and that at the time he said he would continue to do so unless he decided to start it up again. You know where this is going, don’t you? That’s right “Bill-O the clown” came in at #2, complete with “the voice”. #1 was odd. It was Rupert Murdoch. What was odd about it was it was that Murdoch made the list for “muzzling” Bill O’Reilly over Stelter’s article, the article that said there was a deal between MSNBC and FNC.

Solidarity brother Bill. Free yourself from your corporate shackles. Solidarity!

Cue Twilight Zone theme. Olbermann blasts Stelter for a deal that he said doesn’t exist and then gives Murdoch the WPiTW award for following through on the deal…which, uh, doesn’t exist.

There are two ways to interpret this:

1) Olbermann was mocking the bogus deal with some satire by bringing up the Murdoch end of the “deal” and how it supposedly muzzled O’Reilly.
2) Olbermann got too cute with his prose and accidentally just confirmed there was a deal.

Olbermann Writes About..er…Something…

Prior to tonight’s TV addressing of the FNC/MSNBC “deal” Keith Olbermann writes on Daily Kos…

A few of the sections of tonight’s Comment, below.

But first I did wish to make brief responses to two topics that have been much discussed here and elsewhere.

Primarily, there is no “deal” between MSNBC and Fox over what we can and cannot cover. This is part of a continuing strategy of blackmail by Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, that reaches back to 2004, and has as its goal the cancellation of “Countdown.” This stuff has ebbed and flowed for five years, it’s part of my daily job to push it back with whichever strategy I think will best work at a given moment. For the last two months I’ve been employing “News Jujitsu.” If you watch tonight and catch the references to Fox and its rogues gallery you will know that the most recent tack has worked, but the fight is endless and there will be reversals in the future, I’m sure.

Ailes himself is tonight quoted as saying he tried to ‘broker peace’ by restraining his hosts. This is the same Ailes who insisted he would never interfere with what Bill O’Reilly said on the air. Even naked hypocrisy is not too much if Fox can make itself seem victimized, or can muzzle dissent.

But there is no “deal.” I would never consent, and, fortunately, MSNBC and NBC News would never ask me to.

I’ve read this over several times and I can’t make heads or tails of it. “Primarily” there’s no deal? What’s “Primarily” mean? This was all some sort of fake out maneuver? Anybody really believe that?

What’s in a word?

For TVNewser and whoever leaked those new details from inside FNC…

An agreement was made to end all personal attacks.

(….)

So, the bottom line: There is no “truce.” There is an agreement to end the personal attacks.

Definition of “Truce”:

1 : a suspension of fighting especially of considerable duration by agreement of opposing forces : armistice, cease-fire

2 : a respite especially from a disagreeable or painful state or action

Please kindly explain to me why the FNC/MSNBC deal, especially where Countdown and The Factor are concerned, isn’t a truce? It has, by definition, all the characteristics of one. Someone at FNC apparently doesn’t like that term being used but from where I sit if it walks like a duck…

MSNBC/FNC “Truce”: More details…

TVNewser peels another layer of the onion thanks to some help from what has to be inside FNC…

TVNewser has also learned there is a fluid agreement between the two companies which was in place prior to the Murdoch-Immelt meeting at Microsoft. It is considered to be a cease fire on all personal attacks. But when a host on Fox News calls the president a “racist,” MSNBC might cover it, just as Fox News might cover Immelt’s position on Pres. Obama’s economic advisory board.

So, the bottom line: There is no “truce.” There is an agreement to end the personal attacks. The premise of there being a complete draw-down between the two networks that was, as Brian Stelter writes in his story, “orchestrated in part by Jeff Zucker, and Gary Ginsberg, an executive vice president who oversees corporate affairs at the News Corporation,” is false, says our source.

“Zucker prolonged the assault on Immelt for another year and Ginsberg has absolutely nothing to do with inner workings of Fox News. Roger Ailes simply doesn’t take orders from Gary Ginsberg,” says our source.

TVNewser also has some news from inside MSNBC this morning…

During the meeting, Griffin told the staff that Olbermann was never told what he can or can’t say and that MSNBC would never muzzle any of their talent. The conversations that occurred between Griffin and Olbermann about the agreement were entirely about tone and not substance.

This is six of one, half a dozen of the other. You can’t separate tone from substance in regards to what Olbermann does on Countdown. For Olbermann, tone is almost as key as substance. Sometimes it’s even more important. You modify Olbermann’s tone, you’ve modified how Olbermann does what he does, which is no trivial thing for a talking head show. Imagine Glenn Beck being told by FNC to cool down his theatrics. That’s all tone. It’s not substance. The show would be fundamentally different. Same thing applies to Countdown. And if they’re discussing tone and Olbermann alters his tone, he is in effect being muzzled since he’s no longer doing what he used to be able to do. You can spin that any way you want but the result is the same.

Corporate Meddling?

The news of a GE/News Corp. deal may not have been the first time GE felt pressure and intervened against Keith Olbermann. If you believe Page Six, and yes that is a tough pill to swallow, GE and Immelt played a role in getting Olbermann taken off political anchoring on MSNBC. This is from last year…September 9th to be exact.

“So he threw Matthews under the bus,” said one insider, who added, “This has [GE chairman] Jeff Immelt’s fingerprints all over it – if not his fists.” GE is the parent company of NBC. “Unequivocally untrue,” an NBC spokeswoman told Page Six. “Jeff Immelt does not get involved in these decisions.” However, Immelt did get involved in the decision to fire radio legend Don Imus last year. One knowledgeable source told us: “Shareholders were calling up NBC and GE – a lot, maybe thousands. They were saying, ‘What the [bleep] is wrong with these guys?’ . . . Chris Matthews just got stuck in the middle of it all.”

Is a pattern emerging here? Or not? And if this is a pattern, how much longer before Olbermann gets fed up with being interfered with by GE?

Free for All: 08/03/09

What’s on your mind?

Examining the Dobbs Situation…

The AP’s David Bauder gives a summary of the whole CNN Birther story…

Fear could be another factor keeping Dobbs and CNN together.

Dobbs has never been shy about fighting for his point of view. His feud with former CNN chief Rick Kaplan spilled out on the air in 1999 when he objected to having his “Moneyline” show pre-empted for a speech by President Clinton about the Columbine school shootings. “CNN President Rick Kaplan wants us to return to Littleton,” he said. Dobbs soon left CNN and returned after Kaplan left.

With Dobbs hosting his own weekday radio show, the thought of him launching anti-CNN missiles every day has to be disconcerting.

It’s also not hard to imagine Fox News chief Roger Ailes coveting Dobbs as a prize for his struggling business news network, offering reports to the main news channel as well.

Organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and Media Matters for America have called for CNN to take Dobbs off the air; he’s proven a galvanizing and attention-getting force for his critics. At CNN, they’re hoping the controversy dies down with the heat of August.