The Hazards of Live TV: #25,038

Not cable news related, but too good to ignore…

New CNN Studio: First Photos…

Newscast Studio got its hands on some alleged pics of CNN’s new Atlanta HD set still under construction. Given the “Spring 2010″ timetable to launch, these pics are likely rather current…

Ed Schultz calls for cheating in Massachusetts U.S. Senate Election…?

I’ve been tracking this the past few days to see what sort of legs it would have and it seems like there are some legs. Cheri Jacobus blogs on The Hill about something Ed Schultz said last week…

MSNBC’s Ed Schultz apparently doesn’t believe in this whole “democracy” thing we’ve got going on here in the United States of America. You know — where citizens get to vote for their elected officials and the one with the most votes wins? (Please don’t bore me with the “Gore won in 2000″ whining. He didn’t. In fact, it was his choice to go for a manual recount only in four cherry-picked Florida counties where he thought he might do best, rather than a statewide recount, because he knew Bush beat him in Florida.)

On Friday on his radio show, Schultz said he would be willing to cheat in Tuesday’s Massachusetts special election to fill the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat in order to keep the seat in the Democratic column. The race is in a dead heat, but Republican Scott Brown seems to be surging as Martha Coakley (D) stagnates. This, in the most liberal state in the union!

Schultz: “I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts I’d try to vote 10 times. I don’t know if they’d let me or not, but I’d try to. Yeah, that’s right. I’d cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. ’Cause that’s exactly what they are.”

Free for All: 01/18/09

What’s on your mind?

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 01/17/09

What’s Hot:

Haiti – Cable news swarmed all over the story of the Haiti earthquake and the resulting humanitarian crisis that unfolded.

Sarah Palin joins FNC – Palin joining FNC made for quite a bit of press and a full court press by FNC to feature Palin quickly on its primetime shows and Glenn Beck…

FBN Daytime changes – ICN broke news that FBN would be tweaking its daytime schedule by extending Don Imus to 9:20 am and creating a new branded show for Stuart Varney after Imus.

Matthew Freud Pushback – After a swirl of ridiculous rumors started circulating that Roger Ailes’ position at FNC was shaky, thanks to Matthew Freud’s “revelation” to the New York Times, there was concerted pushback by News Corp. and Ailes to stamp out the rumors…

NBC Late Night Shambles – Everyone was watching the train wreck in progress that is NBC’s Late Night TV lineup.

What’s Not:

Glenn Beck Power – Word emerged this week that a respected FNC producer for Glenn Beck’s show was essentially driven out by Beck’s team.

Glenn Beck Interview…

The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto has an interview with Glenn Beck…

Mr. Beck identifies with the Howard Beale character from the 1976 film “Network.” Beale, played by Peter Finch, is a news anchor on a fictional broadcast network who has a nervous breakdown on air, becomes a raving populist, and is a big hit with viewers. Mr. Beck invokes the fictional anchorman’s most famous line: “I am mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore. The part of Howard Beale that I liken myself to is the moment when he was in the raincoat, where he figures everything out, and he’s like, ‘Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Why the hell aren’t you up at the window shouting outside?’”

Mr. Beck adds, “What the media wants to make me is the Howard Beale at the end, the crazy showman that’s doing anything for money. That I don’t liken myself to.”

Some of Mr. Beck’s detractors on the left, including MSNBC ranter Keith Olbermann, draw a more sinister cinematic analogy. Mr. Olbermann calls Mr. Beck “Lonesome Rhodes,” the cynical TV demagogue played by Andy Griffith in 1957′s “A Face in the Crowd.”

“I had never heard of Lonesome Rhodes,” Mr. Beck says. “I had never seen the movie. . . . As soon as I heard that, I watched it. . . . Lonesome Rhodes and I, I guess, had a few things in common. He was a drunk. I’m in AA; he wasn’t. He, at the very beginning, said things that he believed—I think. I’m not really even sure on that. I used to not say the things I believe. . . . Now I’ve made a vow to myself—it actually comes from Immanuel Kant, the philosopher: ‘There are many things that I believe that I shall never say. But I shall never say the things that I do not believe.’ . . . The minute I violate that, I’m back to the old drunk Glenn.”

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,037

From an emailer…

This afternoon at around 1:40pm et FBN had a prank caller from North Carolina. Nothing obscene, just a Howard Stern listener going bababooey.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 01/16/09

Post your submissions for this week’s What’s Hot/What’s Not. I’ll post the finalists either on Sunday night or Monday morning…

Campbell Brown breaks down…

The LA Times’ Matea Gold writes about Campbell Brown breaking down after news broke that an 11 year old girl who had been rescued, had died…

The story began Thursday, when CNN correspondent Ivan Watson reported on the Herculean efforts to save an 11-year-old girl pinned under the rubble in Port-au-Prince. (See his report above.) His camera captured the anguished look in her eyes as she lay under piles of concrete, moaning as rescuers tried to free her from a large piece of metal pinning her leg down. Ultimately, she was freed after rescuers managed to find a generator to power an electric saw and cut her out.

Tonight, Watson told Campbell Brown the sad coda to the story: that while the girl made it to a first aid station, doctors there didn”t have the necessary equipment to treat her wounds. Her family was unable to get her to a hospital in time and she died.

In Depth: Anderson Cooper and CNN’s Conflict of Interest?

I thought about it for a while but I have to write about CNN’s Anderson Cooper hosting the Haiti part of the George Clooney Telethon. It bothers me. And it bothers me because Cooper is in the field, on the ground in Haiti, covering this story for CNN. This will complicate and politicize an important cause for some people.

Take Fox broadcast network. It’s on board to carry this telethon, as is NBC. But are we going to have Shepard Smith or Brian Williams on to make similar pitches for donations? For fairness sake, they should be. Otherwise, it’s got to chaffe just a little for News Corp. and NBCU to give prominent airtime to someone who is arguably the flaghship anchor for a direct competitor to their subsidiaries who is covering the same story they are.

I don’t care how pure Cooper or CNN’s intentions are, and I’m going to assume for the sake of argument that they are indeed pure. It just looks wrong. And looks matter because they shape people’s perceptions.

It’s impossible to ignore the not at all insignificant argument regarding the propriety of having someone who is directly involved in shaping the coverage of the disaster that’s still unfolding in Haiti featured prominently across a multitude of networks, when so many others are also involved in shaping the coverage on networks that will be carrying this telethon. And they apparently will not be featured.

Bill Hemmer Interview…

The Cincinnati Inquirer’s John Kiesewetter interviews Bill Hemmer who is currently in Haiti…

“Haiti trumps them all. The numbers of people are extraordinary. People are sleeping on concrete, in the streets, or out in the parks. They’ve either lost their homes or apartments, or they’re afraid to go into their homes again for fear they’ll collapse,” says Hemmer, who has been reporting from Haiti since Wednesday dawn.

We spoke minutes after he watched rescuers spend 15 hours extricating a 60-year-old American man who had been trapped 3-1/2 days under the rubble from a 5-story hotel. They had to amputate his left leg, and right foot. He was one of 8 rescued from that site on a hillside on the edge of town.

“He’s alive. And now he’s got a second chance,” said Hemmer, who’s had about 5-6 hours of sleep while down there.

Two Hour Larry King Monday…

CNN announced that Larry King will be airing for two hours Monday with a Haiti themed program…

CNN’S LARRY KING HOSTS SPECIAL TWO-HOUR LARRY KING LIVE ON MONDAY: Haiti: How You Can Help

As he did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, CNN’s Larry King reaches around the world, this time to help the people of Haiti. On Monday, January 18, King hosts a special two-hour Larry King Live: HAITI: HOW YOU CAN HELP, bringing together celebrities and opinion leaders to inspire members of the global community to take immediate action in helping the people of Haiti in the aftermath of this week’s devastating earthquake. The special airs from 8 pm ET to 10 pm ET (US) on CNN. Campbell Brown will report Haiti news updates over the course of the two hour program.

Guests join Larry King on set and via satellite to help showcase the many ways people can respond to this crisis, and to generate support for the major relief organizations UNICEF and the Red Cross.

Press Releases: 01/15/09

CNN (1)

MTV NETWORKS PRESENTS “HOPE FOR HAITI,” AN EARTHQUAKE RELIEF GLOBAL TELETHON ON ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 AND CMT

Two-Hour Special from Los Angeles, New York and Haiti to Air Friday, January 22 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

Donations to Directly Benefit Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, UNICEF and Yele Haiti Foundation

Facebook and MySpace Join as Social Media Partners

NEW YORK, NY and LOS ANGELES, CA (January 15, 2009) – In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, MTV Networks is presenting “Hope for Haiti,” a global telethon to air commercial-free across ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT. “Hope for Haiti” will also be made available to MTV Networks International, CNN International and National Geographic channels worldwide.

Former Beck Producer Gresham Striegel joins MSNBC…

TVNewser reports that Glenn Beck producer Gresham Striegel has jumped ship and is now at MSNBC. One could come up with quite a few questions surrounding the circumstances of Striegel’s departure from FNC. Such as…

1) Why did FNC let Beck’s team try to push Striegel out?
2) Does Beck’s team wield that much power inside FNC?
3) Is Beck’s team considered so “untouchable” by the execs that they’d let a veteran loyal well respected FNC staffer walk after this kind of harassment with no repercussions?
4) Who leaked this and what’s the agenda? Was this one of those “unofficially official FNC leaks” meant to publicly slap down someone, in this case Beck’s team, or was it someone loyal to Striegel who didn’t like what was going on?

Haiti: CNN Weekend Schedule Changes…

CNN is altering its weekend schedule to cover Haiti. Here are the details…

SATURDAY, January 16, 2010

SANJAY GUPTA MD –Airs LIVE 7:30AM – 8:00AM
Chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, anchors a live medical special focused on rescue and recovery efforts in Haiti. He will also look at the role historical challenges of Haiti’s infrastructure are playing in the crisis.

THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER – Airs LIVE 6:00PM – 7:00PM
Special LIVE edition of The Situation Room on Saturday, including re-broadcast of Wolf Blitzer’s interviews with Gen. Colin Powell and Pres. Bill Clinton on the Haiti Earthquake.

AN ANDERSON COOPER 360 SPECIAL: SAVING HAITI – Airs 8:00PM – 9:00PM and 11:00PM
Anchor Anderson Cooper recaps the week’s events from Port-au-Prince, Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.

LARRY KING LIVE – Airs LIVE 9:00PM – 10:00PM
Ongoing live coverage of the Haiti earthquake aftermath and recovery effort.

Free for All: 01/15/09

What’s on your mind?

Greta not in Haiti? Here’s why…

This morning I linked to a Matea Gold LA Times article saying that Greta Van Susteren would be sent to Haiti today. But she didn’t get there. Gretawire has the reason…

well…we know how to circle having just gotten lots of practice! We circled Haiti for a few hours and then – for fuel reasons – and also to make sure not to jump ahead of a flight with search and rescue dogs and Red Cross people – we have flown to Florida. We just landed in Florida with an uncertain future. Do OTR from here and hop a plane to Haiti tomorrow? We circled and circled – like the other flights – because Haiti was not permitting flights to land. The airport is small and there is very little ramp space to park planes. We circled for a long time before making the decision.

(Maybe) Why Shepard Smith is not in Haiti…

I wouldn’t blame Smith at all if he decided not to risk going back to Haiti again after this incident…

Update: TVNewser has Smith talking about that incident…

Sanjay Gupta’s show gets a name change…

CNN Observations notes via twitter that Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s CNN show is getting a name change…

Looks like CNN’s “House Call” with @SanjayGuptaCNN has quietly changed names. “Sanjay Gupta MD” airs Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 AM ET.

Haiti: More Deployment Stories…

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter and Richard Perez-Pena write about the nets deploying to Haiti…

Amid banner headlines and special hours of television coverage, reporters and anchors struggled to convey the enormity of the devastation in Haiti on Thursday, as the world’s news media directed their collective attention to the crippled country.

By Wednesday evening, about 24 hours after an earthquake estimated at a magnitude of 7.0, two of the nation’s three network evening news anchors were live on television, albeit barely, in Port-au-Prince. Reporters and photographers for major newspapers had also reached the city. By Thursday, larger contingents of reporters had arrived.

“Outside of a military conflict, this is the biggest international deployment since the tsunami” in 2004, said Tony Maddox, the managing editor of CNN International.

As does the Hollywood Reporter’s Paul J. Gough…

Coverage this week has been informed by those experiences, just as much as the individual experiences of journalists such as NBC’s Brian Williams and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who covered each of the stories. And though no one is counting the bills right now, covering the Haitian earthquake is going to be expensive.

“It’s one of those times when every penny you invest in this coverage is worth it,” said NBC News president Steve Capus. “We have the resources to do this. We’re not breaking the piggybank.”

Every move — from the chartering of multiple private jets (five in NBC’s case alone) and choppers to bringing enough food, fuel and medical supplies to take care of its contingent — means that covering the Haitian earthquake has become a million-dollar decision for the networks. Like the army of aid workers and soldiers who will provide relief to the suffering Haitians, the networks had less than 24 hours to establish and replenish supply lines.

The Olympics are coming…

The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul J. Gough…and there’s a name I haven’t typed in a long while…writes about NBC Universal’s Olympic commitment, which I hope includes muscling DirecTV to turn MSNBC HD before the games start…

The Winter Olympic torch is weeks from being raised in Vancouver but already NBC Uni is going for a record.

The company announced Thursday that it will roll out more than 835 hours of Olympic coverage across its networks. It will be the most ever for a Winter Olympics and more than what NBC Uni had offered in coverage for 2006 in Turin, Italy, and the 2002 games in Salt Lake City combined.

As in past years, coverage will air on NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC and Universal HD. Bravo, which had carried Olympics in the past, won’t have any this time around.

The one thing I’ve heard is that MSNBC is again planning on having its own Olympics show, though it won’t air every day apparently. And no, don’t be expecting Tiki Barber and Jenna Wolfe to be hosting this time. I know who’s going to do it but it’ll keep until NBC makes the official announcement….

Doctor before Reporter…

The LA Times’ Matea Gold writes about CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta…emphasis on “Doctor”…

As he headed to Haiti on Wednesday, Gupta tweeted that he did not plan to set aside his role as a doctor, even though he was going into the field as a journalist.

“Many have asked: of course, if needed, I will help people with my neurosurgical skills. Yes, I am a reporter, but a doctor first,” he wrote on Twitter.

He quickly donned that hat. In a four-minute video that was the lead item on CNN.com this afternoon, Gupta examined a 15-day-old baby with a head injury whose mother had died in the quake. After placing the child on a wooden plank serving as a makeshift exam table, Gupta gently probed the baby’s skull for signs of a fracture. He concluded that she didn’t appear to have a fracture, and then he and a producer wrapped the infant’s head in gauze.

This wasn’t the first time Gupta has brought his medical skills to bear on assignment. In 2003, while embedded with the U.S. Navy’s “Devil Docs” medical unit in Iraq, he performed brain surgery five times.

FNC’s Harrigan breaks down in Haiti…

(via J$)

John Stossel Interview…

The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Rodney Ho interviews FBN/FNC’s John Stossel…

“I’m struggling to learn a new skill,” Stossel said in an interview last week. “I spent years where I would edit this little movie. This is much more spontaneous. That’s the Fox way.”

He tries to ensure the audience is not just packed with acolytes but sprinkled with opponents to whatever topic he is espousing. For instance, Stossel is skeptical that global warming is all that important or crucial in the grand scheme of problems facing the Earth. He brought in opponents, many environmental science students.

What surprised him was their relative timidity. “I’ve spoken to college students before. They can be wonderfully aggressive. I just assumed these kids would be like that,” he said. “But maybe the TV cameras chilled them.”

He said he’s had no problem coming up with topics. (He plans to do 44 shows a year.) In one episode, he used an example of fish pedicures to illustrate how government comes up with stupid rules that defend against unlikely harm. Some states have banned fish nibbling your skin cuticles. He tried it. “It was creepy at first,” he said. “Then it felt good. I don’t know if it actually did anything to my feet but maybe I didn’t do it long enough. I’m not endorsing it. I don’t know if it works.” He simply thinks some salons are trying to tamp down competition by lobbying for government laws.

Home Team?

Politico’s Michael Calderone writes about the five news “organizations” that Tea Party Nation will let into its convention next month…

When asked if ideology was part of the criteria in choosing, Phillips said “no.” Also, I specifically asked why the Journal was selected as opposed to other news outlets that applied, including POLITICO.

“They have covered the tea party movement,” Phillips said. “I would say we’ve gotten fair coverage from them.”

While organizers will claim ideology isn’t a part of the selection, the result is that out of hundreds of outlets from around the world, three right-leaning websites and two Rupert Murdoch-owned news organizations are the only ones being let in.

Update: Had wrong link. Fixed.

Press Releases: 01/14/09

CNBC (1)

CNBC PRESENTS “BUSINESS MODEL: INSIDE THE SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT ISSUE”

CNBC ORIGINAL TAKES AN UNPRECEDENTED LOOK INSIDE THIS BILLION DOLLAR MULTI-MEDIA FRANCHISE AS THE 2010 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT ISSUE IS UNVEILED

One-Hour Special Reported by Sports Business Reporter Darren Rovell to Premiere on CNBC on Tuesday, February 9th at 9PM ET/PT

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., January 14, 2010—It’s a multi-million dollar secret kept under wraps every year. Six undisclosed locations, eighteen bikini-clad models and a quarter of a million images to choose from, but when the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is finally revealed, it will be a global sensation like no other.

On Tuesday, February 9th at 9PM ET/PT, CNBC presents “Business Model: Inside the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue,” a CNBC Original reported by CNBC’s Sports Business Reporter Darren Rovell that takes an unprecedented look inside the most profitable single-issue magazine in the world. In a television exclusive, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, reveals how business, beauty, fashion and sports come together to create this much-anticipated, multi-dimensional franchise that alone generated 7 percent of Time Inc. News Group’s annual revenue in 2009.

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,036

Lincoln was a founding father?

Free for All: 01/14/09

What’s on your mind?

FBN Schedule Changes…

When Alexis Glick was “let go” from FBN, ICN said that there was talk of further changes to the FBN schedule. This morning those changes, starting next Monday, were revealed in an internal memo. The highlights…

- Imus will extend itself until just before the US markets open (9:20 am)
- Stuart Varney will be anchoring from 9:20 – 11 am.
- Brian Sullivan and Dagen McDowell will anchor from 11am-12pm.
- Cheryl Casone will continue at the 12pm hour as she had before.
- Brian Sullivan and Dagen McDowell will return from 1 to 2pm.

All other programming will stay as it is.

Update: TVNewser has the FBN press release which inlcluded more details on Varney’s new show called “Varney & Company”. Dang that was quick. I barely got this in under the wire. Need to get up earlier.

Obvious question: What has happened to Tom Sullivan? His bio is still on the FBN website but where is he?

Update: Sullivan still has his radio show but it appears he’s no longer an FBN anchor but an occasional contributor.

Haiti: Deployment…

The LA Times’ Matea Gold writes about the news nets’ deployment to Haiti…

While CNN went wall-to-wall on the story for much of Tuesday night, Fox News and MSNBC ran limited reports and stuck with taped programming before ramping up their coverage Wednesday.

One of the factors was the dearth of footage from Haiti in the early hours, said John Stack, vice president of news gathering at Fox News, which covered the story in the 4 p.m. PST hour but then ran Bill O’Reilly’s pre-taped interview with former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

“It was a tough call for our programmers because we had an interesting guest, but the news always takes priority,” Stack said. “If they had something beyond the actual report, we would have interrupted.”

MSNBC, which ran a repeat of “Hardball” at 4 p.m. PST, didn’t begin covering the quake until “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 6 p.m. “When there was a lack of pictures, it was hard to know the full scope,” Capus said. “But I was very happy with programming once they got going.”