Another Megyn Kelly Profile…

Get ready for a lot of these I think. The New York Times’ Brian Stelter profiles Megyn Kelly…

Fox executives, who view Mr. Hemmer and Ms. Kelly as rising stars, say they split up the pair to spread their talents across more hours of the day. “She’s gifted. She has all the parts,” Michael Clemente, the senior vice president for news editorial at Fox, said of Ms. Kelly.

In the past year, Fox has seemingly focused more attention on what it says is a sharp division between its daytime newscasts and its opinionated hosts in the evening. “As more and more people point to the prime-time lineup and have opinions about our opinion makers, it’s a natural response to remind folks that there’s another — if I do say so, very successful — aspect of Fox, and that’s the daytime lineup,” Ms. Kelly said.

“America’s Newsroom” averaged 1.43 million viewers last year, up almost 20 percent over the previous year. Of those, about 350,000 were ages 25 to 54, the prime advertising demographic for cable news. Fox’s smaller rivals, CNN and MSNBC, averaged a fraction as many viewers.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 01/31/10

What’s Hot:

James O’Keefe Arrested – This news was covered heavily on MSNBC but all the networks devoted some amount of coverage to it.

Cablevision MSNBC Exclusivity Deal Ends – And beleaguered MSNBC fans who suffered for years wanting the channel but couldn’t get it on Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse rejoiced…

MSNBC restores order to 2pm – After years of an inconsistent 2pm schedule, MSNBC finally did the right thing and restored the hour to 5 day a week news programming.

Grumbling amongst Situation Room staffers – Word leaked out via Politico’s Michael Calderone, that Situation Room staffers were not happy with ceding an hour of the show to Rick Sanchez.

Obama and the Congressional GOP – Friday’s pow wow between Obama and Congressional Republicans was must see TV…

What’s Not:

Susan Lisovicz departs CNN – Another veteran CNN correspondent gets “not renewed”…

Chris Matthews puts his foot in it again with comments on Obama’s SOTU address – I guess he just can’t help it.

David Shuster – Shuster got into trouble for some very pointed Tweets he made regarding James O’Keefe. Although MSNBC wasn’t happy about it, it didn’t stop the network from sending Shuster to Louisiana to report on the O’Keefe story, something that never should have been allowed to happen. But that was only half the story…

MSNBC Fight Club – While in Louisiana Shuster had a ridiculous devoid of news shoutfest with Andrew Breitbart. Totally unrelated, but on the same day Senator Judd Gregg got his dander up in an interview with Melissa Francis and Contessa Brewer. The latter incident couldn’t have been foreseen by the staff. The former could have been easily foreseen by the staff. Which raises the question of why it was allowed to go forward.

Yes Krakauer…I stole that headline from you. It was too good not to steal…

Megyn Kelly Profile

The Examiner’s Jim Kouri has a profile of FNC’s Megyn Kelly…

Kelly’s new afternoon program will focus on the top stories of the day, covering breaking news as well as showcasing interviews with key newsmakers and experts offering analysis on the day’s events. Additionally, the two-hour block will include her signature legal segment, “Kelly’s Court,” which will showcase Kelly’s skills from her previous career as a trial lawyer.

Aside from anchoring a new two-hour program, she will continue to appear as a regular guest on The O’Reilly Factor every Thursday evening during her branded legal segment, “The Kelly File.”

In an exclusive with The Examiner’s Jim Kouri, Kelly said, “Although I will miss starting my mornings with Bill, I’m thrilled to embark on this new opportunity and look forward to delivering the news during what is shaping up to be one of the most historic news periods of our time.”

Candy Crowley gets State of the Union

CNN announced this morning that Candy Crowley will be taking over on the Sunday “State of the Union” program…

Candy Crowley to Take Anchor Chair of CNN’s State of the Union

CNN Announces New Sunday Lineup to Begin Feb. 7 at 9 a.m.

Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has been named anchor of CNN’s Sunday morning political program, State of the Union, it was announced today by Jonathan Klein, president, CNN/U.S. Crowley will take the reins of the program beginning Sunday, Feb. 7 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. (ET). The program will continue the tradition of hosting a political hour of newsmaker interviews along with analysis of the week’s most important issues.

“Candy’s rare combination of shrewd insight and healthy irreverence for the games politicians play has made her one of the most honored political journalists and a cult figure among CNN viewers,” said Klein. “Every Sunday she’ll translate Washington-speak into plain English that every American can understand, as she has been doing better than any reporter on the beat for decades.”

Shepard Smith Profile…

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rosenthal profiles Shepard Smith…

“Shepard Smith is a first-rate journalist and broadcaster,” NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator David Gregory said. “I’ve thought that for a long time, with his reporting on Katrina and other matters. He’s worked hard to set himself apart in the landscape of Fox News.”

Michael Clemente, Fox News’ senior vice president for news, spent 27 years at ABC News before coming to Fox News 11 months ago and compares Smith’s role as anchor-reporter to that of the late Peter Jennings.

Clemente noted that ABC, like so many news outfits of late, has downsized the organization it accumulated over decades, while Fox News, which started in 1996, continues to build and is uniquely positioned to benefit from upping its straight-news capabilities in this era of seemingly ubiquitous headlines.

“People honestly do think they’re better informed, because the minute the actress dies, everyone knows … but there are fewer people reporting,” Clemente said. “So you take a place that’s still reporting … and you bring something important to the mix.”

In other words, anything that’s real seems to work better.

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 Sunday night…

Countdown fading?

Daily Finance’s Jeff Bercovici writes about Countdown’s January ratings sliding. I smell a leak. But from whom? According to Bercovici’s numbers Campbell Brown came within 12,000 average viewers of beating Coutndown in the Demo. This past week probably is what saved Countdown from falling to 3rd as the show has beaten Brown’s show handily every night this week so far. Bercovici also has Phil Griffin commenting on Countdown’s January numbers with surprising frankness…and some spin.

Griffin, not surprisingly, says he doesn’t believe Olbermann’s recent hiccups are part of any larger trend. “Keith has been our tentpole,” he says. “I watch the show every night. It’s a great show. It’s as smart and clever and fun as any out there, and I’m pleased with where we are.”

He attributes Olbermann’s January ratings slip to a news cycle in which international news, rather than domestic politics, was the No. 1 story. “On big, breaking international news, CNN tends to do better than us. They did a great job in Haiti, and I tip my hat to them,” he says. “We’re the place for politics, and there are times when politics does great, and there are times when it doesn’t.” With primaries in the midterm elections already looming, he says, “I think we’ll get our momentum back.”

Anyone care for some softball?

Johnny Dollar tweets that Shepard Smith said during Studio B that O’Keefe will give his first post-arrest TV interview on Hannity Monday. Is there really any point in tuning in?

Update: Easy way to tell how this interview will go down…

1) If O’Keefe’s lawyer is with him, expect at least some real questions.
2) If O’Keefe is by himself, change the channel…

Olbermann, Matthews, Maddow to do Obama/Congressional Republican recap…

Keith Olbermann wrote on Daily Kos this afternoon that MSNBC will be doing a two hour special tonight from 8-10pm on today’s Obama powow with congressional Republicans…

This is a plug for sure, but kind of an organic one because our ability to get out the word on this is limited by the lateness of the hour.

But from 8 to 10 PM Eastern tonight, Rachel, Chris Matthews and I will be presenting a two-hour special report on the President’s remarks (and answers) to the Republican Retreat (and wow did it live up to that name).

We will be aiming for analysis and perspective for sure, but not to the point of carving this up into little soundbites. We will be running, as they say, “large chunks” and then cutting back to the studio to see which one of our jaws can drop the closest to the floor.

Parenthetically, I always said the actual “Prime Minister’s Question Time” on C-SPAN was one of my favorite tv shows but the thought of doing an American version gave me the mental image of all of our politicians running screaming into the streets after the first five minutes of questioning.

Apparently that would all but one of our politicians.

Tamron Hall goes to the Dogs…

via TV by The Numbers…

USA NETWORK & WESTMINSTER BRINGS EVERYONE’S BEST FRIEND BACK TO MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Best in Show to be Crowned at 134th WESTMINSTER KENNEL CLUB DOG SHOW Presented by Pedigree®, Live on USA Network February 15 and 16 at 8/7c

MSNBC’s Tamron Hall Replaces Mario Lopez as Co-Host

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – January 29, 2010 – USA Network announced today that MSNBC’s Tamron Hall will replace Mario Lopez as the co-host of the 134th WESTMINSTER KENNEL CLUB DOG SHOW, presented by Pedigree. Hall will be co-hosting the event with David Frei in his 21st consecutive year with the show. Also joining the team again this year will be NBC Sports’ Tiffany Simons as a sideline reporter. On Monday, February 15, USA will air the first hour of the show at 8pm and will then switch over to CNBC for the 9-11pm ET/PT portion of the broadcast. On Tuesday, February 16, USA will air all three hours, including the crowning of the 2010 Best in Show, from 8-11pm ET/PT.

Lopez, who is stepping down, explains, “It saddens me to say I will not be able to co-host this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show, due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts. I wish Tamron, David and all the dogs the best of luck. I will be cheering you all on from LA.”

U-verse getting MSNBC in Cablevision markets…

I speculated that after Verizon FiOS got MSNBC in Cablevision markets that AT&T U-verse would get in as well. Multichannel News’ Todd Spangler confirms this hypothesis with his story. Extra credit to Spanlger for noting the Cablevision exclusivity deal as the cause. Most media writers and bloggers haven’t noted it was the reason for the freeze out…

AT&T this week began offering MSNBC and MSNBC HD to all U-verse TV viewers in Connecticut, after Cablevision Systems lost its exclusive rights to carry the news channel in its service areas, a spokeswoman for the telco confirmed.

Cablevision’s distribution agreement for MSNBC prevented AT&T from carrying the channel in areas of the state including Norwalk, Bridgeport, Torrington and New Haven County. Verizon had been similarly blocked from offering MSNBC, and will add the channel to the FiOS TV lineup in the affected areas of the New York market, starting next week.

Margaret Brennan in Davos…

The Business Insider got a letter from Bloomberg’s Margaret Brennan in Davos…

Bloomberg TV anchor Margaret Brennan, host of InBusiness with Margaret Brennan, sent us a letter from the World Economic Forum.

“I’ve noticed something happens when you take the masters of the universe outside of their home turf,” she wrote us. “They breathe.”

“As a member of the often maligned fourth estate, it is so refreshing to have a conversation instead of a buttoned up interview in a stifling studio,” she added.

Press Releases: 01/29/10

CNN (2)

This Sunday on CNN’s GPS, Fareed Zakaria interviews Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, discussing the disputed Iranian presidential election and the violence that followed. Selections of their conversation are below.

Additionally, Zakaria will ask tough questions of National Economic Council Director Larry Summers on President Obama’s economic plan, jobs and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

___________________________

CNN Sets New Standard Online in 2009, Leads Competition

No. 1 News & Info Site Sets Internet Record, Tops Mobile News for 3rd Consecutive Year & Lays Claim to Most Engaging User Generated Community Online

No. 1 in News & Info

2009 was a watershed year for CNN Digital. As part of the unveiling of the new CNN.com, CNN harnessed the full power of CNN’s reporting to web users in a stunning, visually charged online experience and continued to hold the No. 1 position among ALL News and Information sites in several key metrics.

Free for All: 01/29/10

What’s on your mind?

CNN’s Magic Wall and Twitter…

The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea writes about CNN’s Magic Wall and the SOTU…

At a time when media organizations big and small are debating how best to integrate sites like Twitter and Facebook into their coverage, CNN appears to have found a successful application.

“We turned the corner tonight,” Alex Wellen, CNN’s Senior Executive Producer, Integrated Programming said in the control room shortly after King demonstrated the technology for the first time.

Wellen said that CNN had access to the entire “firehose” of Twitter data, as opposed to the limited amounts Twitter makes publicly available for search, and said that there were three elements that made the analysis successful: 1. massive amounts of data, 2. timing of that data, and 3. state-by-state geotagging of that data.

“All together, it gave us a 50,000 foot view of what the Twitter reaction was,” he said.

David Bohrman, the CNN Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief who was executive producer Wednesday night, agreed.

“Twitter is all noise, but to be able to harness it and group it and actually intelligently cluster it and derive moods and opinions from it is very interesting,” he said.

Senator Larry Kudlow?

I guess it’s a new rule in cable news: you must have one host pondering a Senate run at all times. Page Six reports that the latest entrant may be CNBC’s Larry Kudlow…

Sen. Charles Schumer, who easily won re-election last time out, could face a challenge this year from CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow. Interviewed yesterday by Curtis Sliwa onAM 970 The Apple, Kudlow said, “I’m very honored to be considered, and I’m going to give all this careful attention.” The former Wall Streeter de cried the Democratic “bank bashing” and said, “I do believe that retiring Sen. Schumer would be a noble cause.” Kud low, who had dinner plans with Conservative Party leader Mike Long last night, is set to dine with state Republican Party chief Ed Cox tonight.

Davos: Bloomberg lineup…

Today’s Bloomberg guest lineup…

BLOOMBERG TELEVISION GUEST LIST — January 29th, 2010

With a team of more than 60 at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) 2010 Annual Meeting, Bloomberg is offering comprehensive multimedia coverage to consumers across television, radio and the Web.

BLOOMBERG TELEVISION guest interviews for today, January 29th, 2010, include the following:

• Vikram Pandit, Chairman & CEO, Citigroup
• Henry Kravis, founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
• Brian Moynihan, Bank of America CEO
• Tidjane Thiam, CEO, Prudential
• Peter Weinberg, Partner, Perella Weinberg Partners
• Arianna Huffington, Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post
• Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan
• Anand Sharma, Trade Minister, India
• Duncan Niederauer, CEO, NYSE Euronext
• José Sergio Gabrielli, CEO and President, Petrobras

Giulliani “skates” again?

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes about Rudolph Giuliani making incorrect statement this morning on CNN and FNC and not being challenged over their veracity…

Earlier this month, on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Mr. Giuliani wrongly stated that “we had no domestic attacks under Bush; we’ve had one under Obama.” The interviewer, George Stephanopoulos, did not challenge the misstatement on the air. Later, he acknowledged the mistake in a blog post.

In the cases on Thursday, why didn’t the hosts follow up? A CNN representative said that the statements in the two interviews are not comparable, and declined to comment further.

Fox is in a slightly different situation than CNN, because it deems “Fox & Friends” an entertainment show. Nevertheless, Lauren Petterson, the executive producer for “Fox & Friends,” said, “We should have caught that this morning, and we should have corrected it.”

Ms. Patterson said the statements would be corrected on Friday’s program.

Senator Judd Gregg vs Melissa Francis and Contessa Brewer

Politico’s Andy Barr writes about another todo which occurred on MSNBC today…

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) attacked MSNBC hosts Contessa Brewer and Melissa Francis on Thursday, questioning their “integrity” as journalists and calling them “irresponsible.”

The scuffle started with Francis asking Gregg to name specific areas of the budget he would cut after he criticized the White House’s proposed freeze on nondefense discretionary spending, saying President Barack Obama has done little to reduce the size of government.

“That’s good in theory,” Francis started to say before Gregg cut her off.

“It’s not a theory,” Gregg said. “Don’t tell me it’s good in theory. What are you? How do you get off saying something like that?”

NewsBusters’ Kyle Drennen has the transcript, which is important becasuse Barr is leaving parts of the conversation, cited above, out. And I think the full context needs to be in there…

Press Releases: 01/28/10

CNN (1)

CNN HEROES: Saving Haiti – An Anderson Cooper 360° Special Illuminating the People Who Are Making a Difference in Haiti, Airing Friday, January 29 at 11pm ET

CNN’s Anderson Cooper and several CNN Heroes will come together for a special hour about courage, sacrifice and extraordinary personal commitment to help the people in Haiti. In the days following the devastating earthquake there have been brave and selfless acts of kindness and heroism throughout the country and CNN is dedicating this hour to acknowledge and honor those people. The hour will also follow up with some familiar faces: heroes who were honored by CNN’s annual initiative CNN Heroes and are in Haiti now working to rebuild the country. The special will air on Friday, January 29th on CNN and CNN International at 11pm ET.

Anderson Cooper’s reports on both tireless search and rescue teams as well as Haitians who suffered so much but who went on to help others while maintaining their resilient spirit. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta will profile surgeons Jerry and Marlon Bitar, twin Haitian brothers who run a hospital in Haiti with minimum supplies, yet they are determined to save lives and rebuild their country. CNN international correspondent Ivan Watson will profile Francois Rozenvil Gertha, a Haitian UNICEF therapist working with the children of Haiti on what is being done to treat the long-term emotional turmoil that follows a human disaster of this magnitude. Before the earthquake, Haiti had an astonishing 380,000 orphans, a number that has greatly increased since. Gary Tuchman, CNN correspondent, introduces us to Jean Robert Cadet, a man committed to rescuing children who have been victimized in Haiti.

CNBC numbers still down…?

Talking Biz News takes aim at the Financial Times CNBC article I noted last night…

The Financial Times has an interesting article Thursday about business news channel CNBC and its value to Comcast in its acquisition of parent NBC.

But the story ignored the channel’s recent ratings, which continue to decline.

During the business day of 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., CNBC’s total viewers are off 25 percent in January to 233,000, according to Nielsen Media Research. The time period is Dec. 28, 2009 to Jan. 25, 2010, the latest data available.

Talking Head Primetime Invades Daytime: Chapter 9

Just a few minutes ago MSNBC had another one of those interviews that probably looked interesting on paper but should have been killed before it aired. It was David Shuster and Andrew Breitbart shouting at each other for about five minutes. The interview began and immediately went south when Breitbart brought up Shuster’s tweets. From there it was lots of crosstalk and accusations and not much in the way of news. This was followed by Shuster interviewing Media Matters Representative Eric Boehlert about ACORN and O’Keefe and Breitbart.

This would be fine if this segment aired during Countdown or Maddow or The Ed Show. But it aired during the supposedly straight news portion of MSNBC Dayside. I can’t even recall the last time I saw either Breitbart or Boehlert on the air during Dayside, that’s how rare their appearances were.

Phil Griffin said that MSNBC would be returning to a more news oriented focus on dayside. It appears Griffin still has his work cut out for him. This was a travesty. No. Travesty is the wrong word. Joke is.

Going too far: Update…

Yesterday, I noted that David Shuster’s tweets regarding James O’Keefe were troubling. Evidently MSNBC thought so too. Politico’s Michael Calderone has the story…

Just before leaving for New Orleans to cover the story, Shuster used a Twitter message to tell conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe — one of the four men arrested by the FBI — that he’s “not a journalist,” that he “intended to tap phones” and that he “will go to prison.”

“The comments were inappropriate,” an MSNBC spokesperson told POLITICO Thursday. “We have talked to David about them.”

Still, Shuster continues to cover the story for MSNBC. At 3 p.m. Thursday, he’s expected to interview Andrew Breitbart, who pays O’Keefe a salary and published his undercover anti-ACORN videos on his website Big Government.

MSNBC has been all over the arrests at Landrieu’s New Orleans office, dubbing the alleged attempt to tamper with the phones of the Democratic senator “PhoneGate” and “Bayou Break-In.”

Lets cut to the chase here: Shuster’s comments crossed a journalistic line and MSNBC thought so as well. Yet they’re still having him on the air covering this story. He should be yanked off the story permanently as he has no business being anywhere near it after making his opinions known publicly. This totally taints his reporting and, by extension, MSNBC’s coverage. The well has been poisoned.

This isn’t like Olbermann doing a bunch of minutes on it. Countdown is an opinion show, despite MSNBC’s claims that it’s still a “news show”. Everyone knows the show is Olbermann’s view of the world. So Olbermann can have the latitude to swing away at O’Keefe and devote mucho time to it. Shuster is supposed to be a journalist/news anchor. The rules are different. MSNBC can’t keep straddling the line like this on Dayside. It keeps coming back to bite them in the ass.

Verizon FiOS/Cablevision Debacle Over…

The rumors were true. It’s over. Here’s Verizon’s release…

Verizon announced on Thursday (Jan. 28) that the company will launch MSNBC on FiOS TV throughout the New York metropolitan area, including parts of New Jersey, Long Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties.

“We’re excited to add MSNBC to the FiOS TV lineup for all of our metropolitan-area subscribers,” said Terry Denson, vice president of content strategy and acquisition for Verizon. “Now these subscribers can enjoy some of the most thought-provoking news and commentary available, delivered over Verizon’s advanced all-fiber network.”

Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC, said, “Launching on Verizon FiOS TV in the broader New York area could not come at a better time. MSNBC has established itself as ‘The Place for Politics,’ achieving historic ratings success, and we look forward to being widely available in the nation’s No. 1 TV market.”

Shutdown…

News on News writes about CNBC’s upcoming tape-a-thon on President’s Day. FBN probably won’t let this opportunity slip by…

With the exception of two live programmes, one at 4am ET, and the other at 9pm ET, CNBC’s schedule for Presidents’ Day on Monday 15th February is filled with documentary and biography repeats. This despite the European markets being open, and programming being available from the European version of CNBC, will provide Fox Business with yet another opportunity to embarrass the leading business network, by broadcasting live programming.

Fox Business have previous in this area too, tending to broadcast live financial phone-ins, and provide updates on the European markets.

CNBC have picked up an odd set of rights for Presidents’ Day however, broadcasting 2 hours of live coverage of the 134th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Major Garrett’s Twitter Trouble…

Gawker has a rundown of what can only be called a very embarrassing Tweet by FNC’s Major Garrett…

In the run-up to the State of the Union address, Garrett offered Twitter followers a link to SOTU excerpts, but the condensed URL sent them to ForWant.com’s classified ads for erotic services in Las Vegas, instead.

“To overcome the numbing weight of our politics” and other Obama SOTU excerpts http://bit.ly/d6W Wed 27 Jan 18:22

Horrified, he deleted and explained:

I apologize. Bit.ly turned my original link to SOTU excerpts to a soft-porn link. NOT my intention. http://bit.ly/d6WZBu Wed 27 Jan 19:21

The link just posted works. Any frequent visitor here knows that is not my style. Sorry. Shld have caught it sooner. Wed 27 Jan 19:23

Ok, I’m no expert on how these Tiny Url style link shorteners work but I’ve never heard of one shortening out out the wrong URL or someone else’s URL. It seems very unlikely but as I said, I’m no expert. Any experts care to weigh in?

Update: Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer breaks down how the wrong URL got out. It WAS an accident…

But it’s clear what happened. Garrett wanted to tweet this bit.ly, “http://bit.ly/d6WZBu,” but mistakenly deleted the last three characters and got diverted somewhere very different. Obviously, in this particular case it looks much worse (because it’s to a sex website). But what would have happened if he mistakenly deleted the last two characters instead?

He would have directed his followers to an All140.com site about Joe Wilson (newsy-ish?):

Davos Programming: Bloomberg…

Here’s a list of some of the guests who will be appearing on Bloomberg today from Davos…

BLOOMBERG TELEVISION GUEST LIST — January 28th, 2010

With a team of more than 60 at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) 2010 Annual Meeting, Bloomberg is offering comprehensive multimedia coverage to consumers across television, radio and the Web.

BLOOMBERG TELEVISION guest interviews for today, January 28th, 2010, include the following:

• Blackstone Chairman & CEO Stephen Schwarzman
• Infosys CEO Senapathy Gopalakrishnan
• Lloyd’s Chairman Lord Peter Levene
• Barrick Gold Chairman/Founder Peter Munk
• Columbia University Professor Joseph Stiglitz
• Starwood Capital CEO Barry Sternlicht
• Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld
• Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou
• Harvard University Professor Niall Ferguson

BLOOMBERG TELEVISION special coverage is led by anchors Margaret Brennan (@margbrennan), Andrea Catherwood (@CatherwoodNews), Francine Lacqua (@flacqua), Erik Schatzker (@ErikSchatzker). Follow them on Twitter for up to-the-minute activities from WEF, upcoming interviews and wrap-ups.

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,039

Typical Matthews-ism…

Update: Matthews clarifies his statement (via J$)

CNBC’s Profitability…

The Financial Times’ Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson interviews Jeff Zucker and CNBC President Mark Hoffman about CNBC…

NBC Universal does not disclose such numbers, but CNBC is reputed to have become its second-most lucrative channel after USA Networks, with an operating profit of between $300m and $400m. As such, it serves as a microcosm of what Comcast sees in NBC Universal.

Sitting in an office in NBC’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, a short drive from his New Jersey studios, Mark Hoffman, the channel’s president, admits that he is not sure what Comcast control might mean for CNBC, “but by all indications they are fans”, he says.

Mr Hoffman is reflecting on a complex fifth year in the job. A little over 12 months ago, he was basking in a surge in ratings, brought on by a financial crisis that left a mass audience craving information on market gyrations that affected investment portfolios large and small. Business news became gripping television for non-experts after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. “We retained most but not all of the audience we gained,” Mr Zucker says.

SOTU 2010: Your Reactions…

Post your reactions to the SOTU speech and the coverage thereof here…