Post your nominations for this week’s What’s Hot/What’s Not. I’ll post the finalists on Sunday night…
Archive for September, 2009
CNN Atlanta to revamp Newsroom. New Set. Launch HD…
Posted in CNN on September 19, 2009 by icn2ICN has learned via a tipster that CNN is in the process of revamping its newsroom in Atlanta. A new set is under construction. The current set has been in use since 2000 1998. No specific launch date has been set though I’m hearing maybe late October. Also in the works, HD in Atlanta. It’s not clear whether the new set and HD will simultaneously debut or HD will follow later. If I were to guess, the set won’t debut until HD is ready. But that’s just a guess though it seems likely. CNN Washington launched in HD this week and CNN is also now broadcasting Larry King Live in HD from Los Angeles. That just leaves Atlanta as the most glaring hole in CNN’s HD lineup. More as I hear it…
The Factor in true HD…
Posted in FNC on September 18, 2009 by icn2The O’Reilly Factor aired from Washington tonight and it aired in glorious true HD. “What?” you say? “The Factor has been in HD for a long time now!” Yes, and no. As documented previously (and see imnotblue’s possible explanation in the comments of that thread), the Factor is in HD but it’s some weird morphing to HD which blurs the image noticeably enough for a videophile to spot it. Which makes tonight’s broadcast underscore the difference all the more. Odd that FNC’s highest rated program, Glenn Beck notwithstanding, still isn’t in true HD yet.
Jesse Watters Ambushed Again…
Posted in FNC on September 18, 2009 by icn2Think Progress ambushed O’Reilly Factor ambusher-at-large Jesse Watters at the Voters Values Summit…who then turned FNC cameras on to record the ambush apparently. Which suggests this may morph into a Factor segment at some point…
Members of ThinkProgress attended the Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC today. While we were there, we happened to see Fox News producer Jesse Watters and decided to try to interview him about why he stalked and ambushed ThinkProgress Managing Editor Amanda Terkel in March while she was on vacation in rural Virginia.
At first, Watters tried to walk away from us, but we were able to chat with him as he waited for the elevator. When we said we were from ThinkProgress.org, he replied, “I don’t know that organization.” But as soon as we mentioned the ambush of Amanda, he turned to his cameraman and said, “Oh, shoot this. Shoot this. Shoot this.”
We pointed out to Watters that O’Reilly has said he always contacts people to give them a chance to respond before ambushing them. Watters attempted to stall several times before answering the question, but eventually responded:
In Depth: Ad Wars…
Posted in CNN, FNC, In Depth, MSNBC on September 18, 2009 by icn2Ok, yes I’m late to covering this. Online traffic school pre-empted most of my afternoon and evening (though I did put up the Brian Mooar video because it was quick to do). So I’m now turning my attention to the case of FNC’s “he said/she said” 9/12 rally ad. I’m not going to debunk the ad since so many already have. CNN pushed back hardest against the FNC ad with multiple press releases coming out today addressing the FNC ad. CNN PR isn’t normally so predisposed to getting down into a street fight with FNC, something which I think has at times been a tactical mistake on their part. But this time they came out guns blazing. The best rebuttal went to CNN’s Rick Sanchez which included a very pertinent observation…
OK. Pay attention to that picture right there on the right. That’s the ad that they took out saying we didn’t cover the event. All right. Now keep an eye on that picture right there.
You see the Canadian flag?
That’s on their ad.
You see the Canadian flag right there at the bottom?
All right, let me show you this.
You see the thing on the left now?
That’s our tower cam shot of the event that we used repeatedly throughout those shows.
Funny how you could say that we didn’t cover an event while using that picture — that picture that looks an awful lot like our tower cam shot, doesn’t it?
Ok, FNC has a long and distinguished history of provocative advertising; advertising meant to stir the pot. But usually the advertising is so subjective and ambiguous that you can’t pin it down in definable terms of correct or incorrect. Not this time. This time it was patently obvious to anyone not working for FNC that the ad rang hollow. Was it a lie as Sanchez claimed? The case could be made as such.
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Vivendi and its stake in NBC Universal may part company…
Posted in CNBC, MSNBC on September 18, 2009 by icn2The New York Times’ Tim Arango writes about various scenarios involving Vivendi and its 20% stake in NBC Universal and how that could impact a GE decision to spin off the company…
Executives at General Electric say they believe that Vivendi, the French conglomerate, will exercise its right later this year to sell its stake in NBC Universal, a move that could lead to NBC Universal’s being spun off into a separate public company in 2010, according to people briefed on the matter who spoke anonymously in order to discuss internal deliberations.
While G.E.’s chief executive, Jeffrey R. Immelt, has often said publicly that the company plans to stay in the media business, a sale of Vivendi’s 20 percent share of NBC Universal in the public market would give G.E. more options if it chose to exit the television and film business by selling its 80 percent stake.
It could also make NBC Universal an attractive takeover target for other media companies. (Time Warner is often named as a possible suitor, but executives of the company have been vocal in saying they plan no major acquisitions.)
CNBC cancels Dennis Kneale’s Show…
Posted in CNBC on September 18, 2009 by icn2The New York Observer’s Felix Gillette scoops that Dennis Kneale’s 8pm program…
At the moment, CNBC is staring down a major challenge to their bread-and-butter a.m. programming–next month, Don Imus makes his debut on rival Fox Business Network, where he will go head-to-head with CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Towards the end of August, Mr. Kneale went on vacation. While he was gone, CNBC replaced his 8 P.M.. show with repeats of their popular dude-friendly documentaries, which range in subject matter from porn to pot, to escorts and race cars. Sure enough the documentaries put up better numbers at 8 P.M. than Mr. Kneale.
When we caught up with Mr. Kneale on Friday afternoon, he was understandably disappointed.
“They always told me it was a temporary gig,” said Mr. Kneale. “I was lucky to have 5 months anchoring my own show on national television. It was fun.”
The Hazards of Live TV: #25,018
Posted in Hazards of Live TV on September 18, 2009 by icn2NBC’s Brian Mooar gets heckled live at the Family Research Council’s Value Voters Summit. This clip includes a post heckle update where Norah O’Donnell reports that FRC head Tony Perkins expressed regret at the heckling and apologized to Mooar. I sympathize with the people who wanted to hear but were getting disrupted by the media’s presence there, but it’s not the media’s fault. It’s the FRC’s fault for putting the media where they put them. They should have put them somewhere where they wouldn’t have interfered so much in the proceedings. Mooar refers to FNC getting ragged on too but I don’t know if they were live at the time or they just went after FNC after going after Mooar.
Update: According to a Johnny Dollar Tweet in response to my Tweet about this story, it was FNC’s James Rosen who was getting ragged on live on the air apparently. Now the hunt begins for video of Rosen getting slagged.
I got this comment: James Rosen reporting live…some guy from the audience was interrupting him. Hope to hear more…
Not sure why Dollar doesn’t have the video of this. He DVR’s FNC nonstop.
Update 2: The Rosen slagging… (via J$)
Mika Brzezinski Profile…
Posted in MSNBC on September 18, 2009 by icn2More Magazine’s Amanda Robb profiles MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski…
In April 2007, when Scarborough was in New York putting together a morning show, the two met for the first time. “I know you’re making fun of my show every time you toss back to me,” he said.
“How can I make fun of a show I’ve never watched?” she re-plied. Scarborough’s next thought was, I’ve found my cohost! They were both smart-asses. His conservative politics plus Brzezinski’s Democrat bona fides had the potential for stunning TV.
The position was freelance, essentially a tryout, but Brzezinski went for it. When the red ON-AIR light blinked on for their first show, “I was, like, ‘Wow. Of all the thousands of wavelengths out there, [Joe and I] are on the same one,’ ” she says. “I felt I’d known him for 20 years and he was like one of my brothers at the dinner table, fighting the way we fought in our family.”
Brzezinski isn’t exaggerating. Weeks into her gig, she did the newscaster equivalent of sucker-punching the host. She refused to read the lead story about socialite Paris Hilton’s release from prison after serving five days for driving with a suspended li-cense. “I hate this story,” she said on the air, “and I don’t think it should be our lead.” The now-legendary YouTube footage of her try-ing to set the script on fire with a cigarette lighter and, later, running it through a shredder turned her into a news hero. Brzezinski told the net-work, “No more tryout. You need to marry me.”
Free for All: 09/18/09
Posted in Free For All on September 18, 2009 by icn2What’s on your mind besides the fact that if you add the first number in this date to the third number in this date you get the second number in this date?
Celebrating Christiane…
Posted in CNN on September 18, 2009 by icn2Wowowow’s Liz Smith writes about CNN’s party for Christiane Amanpour at Michael’s…
CNN pulled out all the stops for their kickoff Michael’s lunch to introduce Christiane Amanpour’s coming new show, bowing weekdays at three o’clock PM on CNN International on September 21. (Sundays at two o’clock PM CNN/U.S.)
Fourth estate luminaries from Time to CBS to ABC and The Daily News were there as well as people like Gloria Steinem, Karenna Gore Schiff, Lisa Caputo, Susan Mercandetti, Clare Gregorian, Harry Evans, “60 Minutes” honcho Vicki Gordon, Police Chief Ray Kelly, et al. And I got to hug my longtime ago “Live at Five” cohort Jack Cafferty, whose e-mails from an irate public make CNN such a hit during its “Situation Room” news hour.
Social Media Overload?
Posted in Miscellaneous Subjects on September 18, 2009 by icn2The Post Crescent’s Sarah Riley writes about social media and cable news and finds it wanting…
I get the sinking feeling, though, that it’s simply a ratings ploy. When hundreds or thousands of people type together a note for Rick Sanchez during his afternoon show on CNN, that’s hundreds or thousands of people who will sit through the broadcast to see if Rick reads theirs.
Meanwhile, people like me are channel surfing trying to find some real news.
My only hope is that this is a phase that will die out in time. If it’s anything like reality TV, which wasn’t supposed to last, I’ll have to buckle down for the long haul. And get my remote control ready.
Wrong…
Posted in FNC on September 17, 2009 by icn2Mediaite’s Colby Hall writes that Roger Ailes is the most powerful political figure in America. I suppose it would be oh so easy to get caught up in the recent hype surrounding Glenn Beck as Hall does here…
In discussing the power and influence of Ailes, one has to start with the ratings – as we reported this Monday, FNC is consistently beating all other networks combined. Prime time has long been the province of Fox’s dominance, but now that Glenn Beck is getting O’Reilly like numbers at 5pm, it’s safe to say that they are just getting started.
Oh really? FNC has other Becks in the pipeline that we don’t know about? Beck is an aberration, the exception to the rule. Daytime on cable news does not usually pull down those kinds of numbers and historically never has, but not for the lack of trying however. Beck is a phenomenon but it is a phenomenon unto Beck itself, not FNC. And not Roger Ailes.
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Juliet Huddy re-signs with FNC…
Posted in FNC on September 17, 2009 by icn2Huddy tweeted about the news earlier today…
Heading up to Fox Legal to sign a new deal. I’m baaaaaaaack! Been with FNC for 12 years. CRAZY.
Press Releases: 09/17/09
Posted in Press Releases on September 17, 2009 by icn2MSNBC (2), CNN (1)
MSNBC
NBC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: ANN CURRY SITS DOWN WITH IRANIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD
Interview to Air Thursday, September 17 on “Nightly News with Brian Williams” and Friday, September 18 on “Today”
“Iran’s President Speaks: The Ann Curry Interview” Airs Sunday at 1 PM on MSNBC
NEW YORK , September 17, 2009 – - In a world exclusive interview, NBC News’ Ann Curry sat down with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his first interview since the June elections and subsequent unrest in Iran. The interview took place in Tehran, and came at a crucial point in relations between the United States and Iran, and just before Ahmadinejad’s upcoming visit to the United States to speak at the UN. The interview will air Thursday, September 17 on “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” and Friday, September 18 on “Today.” MSNBC will air an hour-long special “Iran’s President Speaks: The Ann Curry Interview,” Sunday at 1 PM.
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MSNBC TO TELECAST “ABOUT OUR CHILDREN…,” FEATURING BILL COSBY, A LIVE EVENT MODERATED BY MICHELLE BERNARD, SUNDAY SEPT. 20
Glenn Beck Profile…
Posted in FNC on September 17, 2009 by icn2Time’s David Von Drehle profiles Glenn Beck…without interviewing him apparently.
As melodrama, it’s thumping good stuff. But as politics, it’s sort of a train wreck — at once powerful, spellbinding and uncontrolled. Like William Jennings Bryan whipping up populist Democrats over moneyed interests or the John Birch Society brooding over fluoride, Beck mines the timeless theme of the corrupt Them thwarting a virtuous Us. This flexible narrative often contains genuinely uncomfortable truths. Some days “they” are the unconfirmed policy “czars” whom Beck fears Obama is using to subvert constitutional government — and he has some radical-sounding sound bites to back it up. Some days “they” are the network of leftist community organizers known as ACORN — and his indictment of the group is looking stronger every day. But he also spins yarns of less substance. He tells his viewers that Obama’s volunteerism efforts are really an attempt to create a “civilian national-security force that is just as strong, just as powerful as the military.” While scourging Obama and the Democratic Congress, Beck takes pains to say that the ranks of the nation’s would-be oppressors know no party. In his recent instabook — Glenn Beck’s Common Sense, a huge best seller, with more than 1 million copies moved in less than four months — he wrote, “Most Americans remain convinced that the country is on the wrong track. They know that SOMETHING JUST DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT but they don’t know how to describe it or, more importantly, how to stop it.” The book’s pox-on-both-parties populism evokes the quixotic campaigns of Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, but with an eerie sound track.
Hannity comes to California…
Posted in FNC on September 16, 2009 by icn2The Bakersfield Californian writes about Sean Hannity’s upcoming special in Huron, California this Thursday…
The program airs at 9 p.m. Thursday on Fox News Channel.
According to a media release:
“The special, hosted by Hannity, will focus on farmers and residents who are suffering because of the recent droughts and the controversy over how the federal government has turned off the irrigation pumps to hundreds of farms in the San Fernando Valley.” (Editor’s note: We’re pretty sure they mean the San Joaquin Valley.)
You’d think they’d at least know what’s where before they go there…
Weak…
Posted in FNC on September 16, 2009 by icn2TVNewser has FNC’s Senior Vice President of Development Joel Cheatwood offering an utterly unconvincing defense for Glenn Beck getting caught up in a hoax concerning ACORN…
Joel Cheatwood, FNC’s SVP of Development tells TVNewser, “As Glenn has steadfastly maintained throughout the show’s coverage of this latest ACORN scandal, the individuals on the tapes are not the real story.”
Then why oh why did Beck go ape and demand that people look into her story? Of course it was about the individual in this tape. Why else would Beck go ape over this segment, which didn’t air anywhere else on FNC’s news programming? A better statement would be to say that they should have looked into it before they jumped to conclusions and they have taken steps to make sure this won’t happen again. That’s standard operating procedure for any news organization that gets played like that. To try and spin the story in order to save face is something you’d more often find in the O’Reilly or Olbermann playbook. But then again, FNC says Beck’s show isn’t news.
Update: According to Olbermann tonight, Fox and Friends’ Gretchen Carlson also talked about the clip. Does FNC not consider Fox and Friends news?
CNN and “hate fests”…
Posted in CNN on September 16, 2009 by icn2Reese Schonfeld rips CNN on the Huffington Post for pandering to live Tea Party coverage…
I have written before that as my news mentor, UP’s Bill Higginbotham said, “We don’t have to quote every word that we hear, or show every picture we get.” We do not have to give voice to the haters among us. I suppose no one could’ve stopped a Congressman from calling President Obama a liar because the networks had to carry his speech live, but CNN did not have to give live access to the voices of hatred at the Capital this weekend. When I ran the company, their voices would’ve been fed live into our editing rooms, where editors would’ve picked out the sound bites that were worthy of airtime. It may take an extra 10 minutes to get it on the air, but it performs as a necessary filter.
I have just seen last week’s numbers, and I am glad to report that CNN’s open air practice didn’t do them any good in the ratings. For the first time that I can remember, MSNBC beat CNN in every single one of the demographics in primetime and in two (18-34 and 25-54) of the three demographics in total day. MSNBC beat CNN in total primetime viewing, but CNN edged them in total day. Fox, of course, swept them both in every category, and in primetime finished in the top ten of “adults 25-54″ for the first time in a long time. It also finished eleventh in total day 25-54s. We know where the passion lies, and it ain’t coming from the liberals.
Bartiromo: Busted?
Posted in CNBC on September 16, 2009 by icn2The Huffington Post’s Jason Linkins catches Maria Bartiromo in a rather difficult position…
Back on September 1, CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo went on Carlos Watson’s show on MSNBC and did a dumb, dumb thing. Debating the merits of government health care with Representative Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), Bartiromo demonstrated that she was a little unclear on Medicare’s basic concepts, including the fact that people under the age of 65 are not eligible for it. “How come you’re not on it?” she sarcastically asked Weiner. Well, Weiner was only going to turn 45 that week, so, like I said, ’twas a dumb, dumb thing!
But it’s maybe even dumber to go on Morning Joe and pretend it didn’t happen! From this morning’s edition:
Beck Falls for Hoax?
Posted in FNC on September 16, 2009 by icn2Tommy Christopher writes on Mediaite about a segment that aired on Glenn Beck which may have had one interviewee making up a story…
In perhaps the biggest bombshell of James O’Keefe’s ongoing ACORN expose’ to date, Glenn Beck aired a tape of an ACORN worker confessing to O’Keefe’s hidden camera that she had shot and killed her husband. The tape is followed by Beck imploring his viewers to get up off of their couches, call their local newspapers, and demand that they run this story.
Be careful what you wish for, Glenn.
See, whether they got a phone call or not, Duane Gang and John Asbury of the Press-Enterprise did just that, except they did something that O’Keefe, Fox News, and Beck did not do. They got the facts. Here’s my very favorite part of their story:
Police said they have been in contact with (the woman in the tape) Kaelke’s former husbands and the homicide claims do not appear accurate.
Stossel on leaving ABC, joining FNC…
Posted in FNC on September 15, 2009 by icn2John Stossel writes about leaving ABC and joining FNC…
My bosses often disagreed with my point of view, but they usually let me air it.
But it was frustrating. My vision and that of my producers were often not in harmony. Too many stories I thought were important — such as the land theft called eminent domain, or the FDA’s endangering people’s lives by withholding life-saving drugs — were not aired.
When I pushed, ABC producers often stared at me as if they were thinking, “Why would you want to do that?”
So after 28 years, it’s time to move on.
In my new job, I want to dig into the meaning of the words “liberty” and “limited government.” For many years, through Republican and Democratic administrations, we have been losing something vital in America: the commitment to individual liberty and the understanding that as government grows, liberty shrinks.
Fox offers me more airtime and a new challenge. I’m still thinking about what I will do with my own show. Economic analyses of the latest screwball ideas in Washington — certainly. I also want to undertake exercises in understanding libertarianism, the philosophy of freedom, which used to be called “liberalism.”
More Cutbacks at NBC News…
Posted in CNBC, MSNBC on September 15, 2009 by icn2The New York Observer’s Felix Gillette scoops that NBC is looking for voluntary buyouts…
The Observer has learned that in recent days NBC Universal executives have approached a large number of employees across its news divisions and bureaus, announcing that the company is looking for unspecified number of staffers to take voluntary buyouts. In a series of meetings with human resource managers, staffers at NBC News and MSNBC were told that if targets weren’t met voluntarily, employment challenges lurked ahead. Employees at the Nightly News were told the grim news on Friday, September 11.
This is the second time in less than a year that NBC has sought voluntary buyouts, as part of broader cost reduction measures.
I don’t see how they can cut back any more. Things are already stretched thin…
Roger Ailes’ Compensation?
Posted in FBN, FNC on September 15, 2009 by icn2BusinessWeek’s Ronald Grover writes about Roger Ailes’ financial dividends from FNC and FBN, guaranteeing Grover won’t be getting any FNC/FBN Christmas cards from their PR departments this year…
Anyone who ever wondered how important the Fox News Channel is to Rupert Murdoch and News Corp (NWS) need only peruse the company’s recent proxy statement. Roger Ailes, the former media consultant for Ronald Reagan who runs Fox News and other News Corp TV properties, collected almost $24 million last year in salary, bonuses, stock grants and other benefits – nearly $2 million more than Murdoch himself.
What makes the 69-year old Ailes so crucial to News Corp is the money-generating machine he has created out of Fox News, which clobbers both CNN (TWX) and MSNBC (GE) in ratings, and has become the third most watched cable channel during prime time. Its prime time anchors Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity are must-watch TV for news junkies.
That’s one reason why a big chunk of Ailes’ cash bonus — $5.5 million – came from a spike in the cable channel’s cash flow, which cable TV analyst Derek Baine of SNL Kagan pegs at 65% last year. He says Fox News had cash flow of $502.6 million last year. The channel saw big hikes in the fees that cable and satellite operators pay to carry it, while ratings growth also boosted ad sales, Baine estimates. Thus, the company awarded Ailes the maximum amount it could award under his contract, the company said in its proxy statement.
Home Movies…
Posted in Miscellaneous Subjects on September 15, 2009 by icn2Since I mentioned that I spent way too much time putting together a three hour DVD of my dive trip to Palau, here’s a sample. And yes, this is the dive I lost my snorkel on. The currents were huge and the sharks weren’t swimming. They were just trying to position themselves streamlined in the currents. You can see how fast things were going by the way all the plankton blows by and how fast the bubbles move away from the divers. And, yes, I can hold a camera steadier than that…under normal circumstances. But with the currents raging it was much harder. And when you see me unhook from the reef I’m not kicking my fins…I’m being blown back by the current…right into a school of Sawtooth Barracuda…
Geraldo Rivera vs. Rick Sanchez?
Posted in FNC on September 15, 2009 by icn2NewsBusters’ Noel Sheppard writes about Geraldo Rivera phoning in to WOR radio’s Steve Malzberg…
At first, Rivera seemed rather reasonable when he called CNN’s Rick Sanchez a jerk for his comment a few months ago that Hispanics working for Fox News are all sellouts.
But when the discussion turned to the confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, and whether her comments concerning a wise Latina woman making better decisions than a white man could be perceived as racist and sexist, Rivera got quite defensive and eventually hung up on his host (15-minute audio available here, rough transcript below the fold)
Press Releases: 09/15/09
Posted in Press Releases on September 15, 2009 by icn2CNN (1)
CNN Offers à La Carte Wire Stories Worldwide Content Licensing via Self Service Website Storefront
CNN launched a commercial self-service on-line storefront of its wire stories today, September 15, 2009, enabling journalists, publishers and media organizations to license CNN story content through a web based service at www.cnnwirestore.com. The CNN Wire Store is available globally to license and download individual CNN Wire stories for $199 per story for a single use, utilizing a simple credit card transaction. The site allows publishers to browse through CNN Wire articles, hold selected articles in a cart for review, check out easily, and download story content on demand.
In discussions with publishers and journalists about the news industry and the changing face of the marketplace, CNN earlier this year expanded the offerings of the existing CNN Wire service and made it available for subscription. And now CNN provides the new CNN Wire Store for publishers needing content for single use and on demand basis.
“CNN understands the changing business landscape of journalism and the marketplace. The expanded CNN Wire provides an opportunity for a new platform to make CNN Wire stories easily accessible, and for the first time, on a per-story basis to any publisher, anywhere on their own timetable. With the launch of the CNN Wire Store website, we’ve made our original journalism easily available to other publishers on demand,” said Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services.
Read more »
CNN HD News…
Posted in CNN on September 15, 2009 by icn2A tipster says that CNN’s Washington Bureau will go HD today. We should know for sure in fifteen minutes when The Situation Room starts.
Update: Well actually the tip arrived last night which means that HD happened yesterday. I was out by then so I misread the date on the tip.
