Press Releases: 08/18/10

MSNBC (1)

KRISTEN WELKER NAMED NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT, BASED IN BURBANK, CA

NEW YORK – August 18, 2010 – Kristen Welker is joining NBC News as a network correspondent based in Burbank, California. The announcement was made today by NBC News President Steve Capus. Starting August 30, Welker will report for all platforms of NBC News, including “NBC Nightly News,” “Today,” MSNBC and msnbc.com.

“We are thrilled to add Kristen to our incredibly talented team of NBC News correspondents,” said Steve Capus, President of NBC News. “Kristen helped out in the Los Angeles bureau earlier this summer and her strong reporting experience greatly enhanced our west coast coverage.”

FNC’s Katrina 5th Anniversary Coverage…

The New York Daily News’ Richard Huff writes about Shepard Smith and FNC’s 5th Anniversary Katrina Coverage…

“Afterward, I did a lot of questioning about what had just happened,” Smith says, “that the world could see them suffering and no one came to help.”

Smith still gets upset thinking about the devastation – and what hasn’t happened since then.

“There are people in south Mississippi that still don’t have their lives back together,” he says. “There are kids that didn’t get to go to college because Mommy and Daddy lost everything and their lives changed forever.”

Though not big on marking the anniversary, Smith knows it is important to remind viewers. The tendency is to just move to the next story, the next crisis, and not consider the implications of what happened. “It’s our job to document those changes and not let people forget,” he says. “And not to let people rewrite history.”

Olbermann vs. MSNBC? Nah…

At the end of a segment on the NYC (fill in the blank for word describing a Islamic center which is not really a Mosque), Keith Olbermann said something that is going to have some people wondering if he just took a shot at his own network. Olbermann was criticizing network reporters going out and not reporting the facts on the story and saying that what has been reported is a fabrication and then said that would constitute “actual journalism” and added, “”We don’t practice it very much in this company, in this country, in this nation, in this world.”

When I first heard about this I thought, oh boy. But like a lot of things I get relayed to me, watching what actually happened makes the likelihood that what I was told was said was actually what was said as we interpret it and not what was said as intended. Clearly Olbermann did say “in this company” but I think it was a tongue tied mistake and he meant to say “in this country” which he subsequently did say. Some will argue it’s a Freudian slip but since I can’t peer inside the man’s mind I have no idea what he really thinks so I have to give the benefit of the doubt. But more than just giving the benefit of the doubt, in the moments before Olbermann made his faux pas, he seemed to carve out an exception for his own news division by saying “not particularly to NBC”. So based on that I have to say that Olbermann made a tongue slip and that’s all. But that won’t stop some from making hay out of this anyways…

Update: From a comenter who watched the next segment after this one. I was hip deep in video capture and posting of the above clip and didn’t catch it.

Luckily, after the segment with Spike Lee, he clarified what he meant and pointed out how he wasn’t going after NBC or the network personally, including his colleague Brian Williams, who he complimented, as well.

MSNBC’s Brewer to be Part of Citizen Journalism Selection Committee…

NBC Miami has an announcement about NBC Local Media partnering with iVillage.com in a search for women-centric stories…

Do you know what women want?

iVillage and NBC Local Media are partnering on a unique nationwide search for local citizens across America who are encouraged to contribute, chronicle and share ‘real’ women-centric topics that matter most to them and their community.

Putting an ‘eye’ on community, 10 outspoken iVillage community members will be chosen by a selection committee of journalism experts including TODAY’s Natalie Morales, MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer LXTV’s and Jane Hanson and iVillage Chief Correspondent Kelly Wallace, who will serve as executive producer.

The community members will become part of the newly created iVillage iVoices Network, providing first-hand blogs and video reports for iVillage, and possibly select NBC local markets. The topics will center on areas that are most important to women in areas such as health, pregnancy and parenting, finance, entertainment and beauty and style.

In Depth: Grandstanding in Style…

The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein writes about the story, or non-story, of News Corp. giving 1 million dollars to the RGA and the DGA trying in vain to get on FNC to talk about it…

In an email after the interview, Emily Bittner, a spokeswoman for the DGA, said that the committee had “sent more than a dozen emails and voicemails” to hosts and producers “for every weekday show” on Fox without a single bite. Bittner showed an email sent to Fox’s Shepard Smith, perhaps the most sympathetic voice at the network on a matter like this, that she sent at roughly 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

Asked to respond to Daschle’s charge that he was being denied a chance to challenge Fox on its donation, Fox News spokesperson Eva Synalovski offered the following: “We understand Nathan’s desire to get face time on the most watched news network. And when he can offer insight on a legitimate news story instead of conducting a dishonest publicity stunt, we will consider having him on as a guest.”

Typical FNC response with just a dash or two of snark tossed in. However the FNC response is accurate enough. This isn’t a story worthy of their airtime and the DGA is grandstanding knowing full well that it never had a chance of getting on the network even before it carpet bombed its staff with requests. It’s one thing to be be sitting on the sidelines and have a network decide to bring you on and you give them crap. Then the network has nobody but themselves and their naivete to blame for what happens next (see: MSNBC and John Ziegler). It’s another thing entirely to take the initiative and try to bully your way on to a network’s air in order to give them crap. You think they’re that stupid that they’d seriously consider allowing you on just to trash them?

Besides it’s News Corp. that made the donation and not FNC. It’s like holding CNN responsible for whatever Time Warner does or MSNBC for what GE does (well, technically, O’Reilly does sort of try to do that on occasion but in his case it’s not taken seriously by anyone who isn’t a partisan).

FNC was totally correct in not wanting to get into a lose-lose scenario with the DGA. And why the Huffington Post wants to make hay of this non-story is a beyond me. Yeah, I know it’s the “liberal website” but still…

Press Releases: 08/17/10

CNN (1)

CNN ‘In America’ Anchor and Special Correspondent Soledad O’Brien kicks off her series “In America: See How They Run,” on today’s edition of CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer with an exclusive interview with U.S. Representative Charles Rangel. The series will take an in-depth look at how identity will play a role in the 2010 midterm elections. O’Brien’s interview with Rangel, who represents the 15th Congressional District, New York’s Harlem, addresses how the identity of people in his district is changing and how it will change the politics of Harlem. Rangel also addresses the public hearing he is facing on ethics charges and why he thinks his base will support him.

Lori Rothman Jumps from Bloomberg to FBN…

Talking Biz News scoops that Bloomberg TV’s Lori Rothman will be joining FBN…

Rothman will be an anchor during the day on Fox Business. She will be a market hours anchor and will make her debut in September.

Hmmm…and where will they make the space for Rothman on FBN’s business hours? Someone’s going to be losing some face time…

HLN Dayside Changes…

TVNewser’s Kevin Allocca writes about changes to HLN’s dayside lineup and anchor rotation. If you can make sense of this, please tell me what it is because reading this paragraph makes it seem like the anchors will be one big jumble with Mike Galanos holding court. And here I thought it was MSNBC that had the exclusive on bizarro world anchor rotations. Not anymore.

Mike Galanos, who had been anchoring “Prime News,” will now anchor five four hours of HLN’s afternoon news programing (12-4pmET) with Richelle Carey, Susan Hendricks, and Christi Paul, among others, forming a Mon-Fri supporting ensemble. (Carey will continue anchoring 4-5pmET.)

Someone at HLN is really enamored obsessed captivated with Galanos. There was a time when Christi Paul was the hot ticket on HLN dayside but with this move Galanos becomes the “it” anchor. It also suggests HLN is going to pivot even further away from news and more toward opinion because that’s what Galanos has been doing the past couple of years. No wonder Chuck Roberts left. Probably didn’t want to be a part of it…

In any case, this move has “train wreck” written all over it. MSNBC, more than any other network, has dabbled on and off with multiple anchor (more than 2) formats. Each time it failed. Now HLN is rolling the dice that it can make it work. I’ll bet the farm it won’t.

NBC/MSNBC Katrina 5th Anniversary Coverage….

The New Orleans Times-Picayune’s Dave Walker writes about NBC/MSNBC’s Katrina 5th Anniversary plans…

Williams will also host an MSNBC special titled “Brian Williams Reports: A Return to New Orleans” at 9 p.m. Sept. 10.

On August 27, Matt Lauer and Al Roker will co-host “The Today Show” live from New Orleans.

On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow will anchor her 8 p.m. show from New Orleans on August 26 and 27, and Ed Schultz will host his 5 p.m. show from New Orleans August 30.

Other NBC News correspondents in the area for the coverage will be Ron Mott, Kate Snow, Thanh Truong, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, MSNBC’s Tamron Hall and CNBC’s Scott Cohn.

O’Reilly Caught up in “Questionable” Investment Pitch?

Ok, it’s not Beck and Goldline, though some may argue it’s worse than that, but it appears Bill O’Reilly may have lent himself to something he may now regret. CBS Money Watch.com’s Kathy Kristof writes about looks to me like an infomercial on NewsMax.com that O’Reilly makes an appearance on…

If you got the report, you’d likely toss it and figure that “free” advice is often worth exactly what you paid for it. What you didn’t know is that you’ve actually gotten caught up in “a free trial offer” that’s going to quickly cost you.

What the show is really peddling is Spetrino’s $99 investment newsletter, which you will subscribe to automatically, if you’re gullible enough to ask for his “free” reports. How? You must pay $1 on a major credit card to get the free reports. (Spetrino justifies the $1 fee in the video by saying that people don’t pay attention to free advice, so he’s charging a token just to get you to listen.)

Free for All: 08/17/10

What’s on your mind?

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,073

(via Gawker)

The Power of O’Reilly?

CJR Daily’s Terry Ann Knopf writes about the firing of Barry Nolan, former Hard Copy anchor and Extra reporter last seen on Comcast’s CN8, and how a protest concerning Bill O’Reilly Nolan made at an awards ceremony may have played a role. (via TVNewser)

In December 2009 Comcast executive vice president David L. Cohen insisted to Matea Gold, a Los Angeles Times reporter, that Nolan wasn’t fired for speaking his mind, and affirmed the importance of journalistic independence. “Professional journalists need to have the right to express their opinions without fear of correction or retribution from a corporate parent,” he said.

Perhaps he should have added—except when it involves the corporation’s business interests. Documents, filed with the court, reveal that Comcast and Fox were involved in “ongoing” contract talks at the time, with Comcast fearing Nolan’s protest “jeopardized and harmed” its business dealings with Fox. In response to a question posed by Nolan’s attorneys in his lawsuit, Comcast’s written response, dated Aug. 5, 2009, states:

… Mr. Nolan’s protest at the NATAS Award Ceremony and of William O’Reilly as the recipient of the Governor’s Award jeopardized and harmed the business and economic interests of Comcast in connection with its contract with Fox News Channel, and its contract negotiations with Fox News that were ongoing at the time.

If you sit here reading this and start asking yourself, “If Comcast canned Nolan because of fears of impacting its business dealings, what will happen to Keith Olbermann, who’s been O’Reilly’s most vocal critic, once Comcast acquires a controlling interest of NBC Universal?” you are not alone…

Shepard Smith Interview…

New Orleans Living Magazine’s Christine Fontana interviews Shepard Smith…(via J$)

Will Fox be doing any five-year retrospective Katrina specials on your shows?

We will, and what I want to do is to remember the people who did great things for each other during that time, because that’s what I always try to take away from these disasters and especially this one, which is kind of ours, and find out what we’ve learned and how much progress we’ve made, and if Katrina’s evil sister comes along at some point, what can she do to New Orleans? I think those are the kinds of things we’re going to explore and of course it’s all wrapped up in tragedy number two here. It’s just hard to believe that our folks have been through so much, and now they’re having to go through so much again with the oil. It brings me to tears if I think about it too much. It’s horribly unfair and cruel to the hardworking, God-fearing folks who have not done wrong. It pains me to no end, and I know it does you too.

Press Releases: 08/16/10

CNBC (1), MSNBC (1),

CNBC

CNBC PRESENTS “AMERICAN GREED: MADOFF BEHIND BARS” ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25TH AT 9PM ET/PT

For the First Time on Television, CNBC Takes a Deep Look at How the Most Hated Money Man in America is Surviving His 150 Year Sentence

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., August 16, 2010— From an Upper East Side Penthouse to an eight-by-eight cell in Butner Prison…CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, takes an inside look at how Bernie Madoff—the mastermind of the biggest ponzi scheme in American history—is adjusting to his life behind bars.

On Wednesday, August 25th at 9PM ET/PT, CNBC presents “American Greed: Madoff Behind Bars,” a one-hour documentary narrated by Stacy Keach. With insight from his angry victims to the cons who served time with him, the program paints a chilling portrait of what life is really like for Bernie Madoff inside Butner’s prison walls.

Free for All: 08/16/10

What’s on your mind?

FBN’s iPad App…

Mobile Marketer’s Peter Finocchiaro writes about FBN’s new iPad app…

Fox Business is targeting business-minded consumers who want an interactive tool that they can use while watching the network’s broadcasts or anywhere else. The application is available for free in Apple’s App Store.

“From a trader’s perspective, life at the terminal has all sorts of things going on,” said Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital, New York. “We’re a channel talking about all that stuff, and now we have a medium with a device where viewers can play and act along.

“[We’re aiming for] immersive devices and experiences that people can use not only on the go but also while watching the channel,” he said. “This is baseline – we have grandiose plans to keep upgrading as the device improves.”

New Nielsen Measurements…

I missed this Friday. MediaPost’s Fern Siegel writes about Nielsen adding two new measurments to its rating service…

Nielsen has completed a review of its “weighting controls,” or measurements for national TV ratings. The media company is adding two new categories: PC/Internet and Age of Householder (Less than 25 and 25-34).

A cross-section of Nielsen’s client base and the industry ratings watchdog Media Rating Council have also reviewed the data. The majority do not oppose adding these controls to the measurement process.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 08/15/10

I had thought about making this the first week in What’s Hot/What’s Not history to have nothing make the cut for either classification. Yeah, it was that bad a week…

What’s Hot:

Blog Spat – The latter half of the week was dominated by an article Daily Finance’s Jeff Bercovici wrote about Mediate’s video useage. This drew immediate return fire from Mediaite’s Colby Hall pointing out that Bercovici’s parent company AOL was an even bigger transgressor in that department. A subsequent article by Mediaite’s Rachel Sklar laid out the legal discussion of the Fair Use doctrine.

What’s Not:

Hollywood Life – The gossip website put up a story that had Piers Morgan saying that it was unlikely he would take over Larry King’s slot. The story got picked up quickly but was subsequently rubbished by The Wrap which said Morgan was in the final stages of finalizing his deal with CNN. Hollywood Life then yanked its story.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: Submissions…

Heading out for a couple of days. Post your nominations, if there are any as it was a thin week, for this week’s What’s Hot/What’s Not. I’ll post the finalists, if there are any as it was a thin week, Sunday night…

Big deal…

While I suppose it’s an issue for the Time Warner Building, why TVNewser had to post an internal email about bed bugs is a mystery to me. Might as well have talked about flooding or insecticide use. Oh…wait.

TVNewser has learned the human resources department of TBS Inc. has sent out an email this afternoon alerting staffers of a bed bug problem in their New York City offices at Time Warner Center — home to CNN, CNNMoney.com and other Time Warner entities.

Mediaite vs. Bercovici: Round 2…

Mediaite’s Rachel Sklar turns in a very wonky piece on Fair Use that does a much better job of rebutting Jeff Bercovici’s article on Mediaite’s clip useage. Leave it to a lawyer…

The media world is so different than even just a few years ago, when YouTube exploded on the scene with the anyone-can-embed-it video that suddenly changed everything. But what’s sort of amazing, even amidst this shift to “clip culture” – is how well-built and adaptable the Fair Use provision has shown itself to be, applying rationally and with relevance to an evolving mediasphere, and its evolving models. Perhaps one of these days, Bercovici will catch up.

Free For All: 08/13/10

What’s on your mind this Friday the 13th?

Mediaite vs. AOL…

Mediaite’s Colby Hall fires back at Jeff Bercovici by taking on his employer with a “You’re more knocked up than we are” type of response…

First some background: there is no question Mediaite and its sister sites have seen meteoric growth in its first year, which in turn has lead Bercovici and other media navel-gazers to wonder how that success could have occurred so quickly. Bercovici erroneously presumes that the majority of Mediaite’s traffic is a result of syndicated video. Last month, Mediaite had 1.4 MM unique visitors to the site, and in August is on track to beat that number. None of those visits include syndicated video plays, which if added, would more than double the total number of “Mediaite users.” Since many of those Mediaite syndicated video watchers are not coming to the site itself, they are not included in Mediaite’s monthly traffic numbers.

The more important problem with Bercovici’s piece is that in reality Mediaite is in regular contact with the news networks, whose clips we utilize. And at least one of the people quoted in his article told us that his quote was taken totally out of context. While flattering, it is ironic that Bercovici singles out Mediaite for a practice that so many websites engage in, including his own parent company AOL. His first stop in reporting this story may have been a walk upstairs to check in on the video curating practices of the company that pays his check.

What’s ironic about Hall’s attack on AOL is that Bercovici’s own piece references Magnify.net CEO Dan Rosenbaum talking about a scenario which Hall argues fits AOL’s M.O. to a “T”…

Max Kellerman to Fill in on CNN Friday at 8pm…

TVNewser’s Alex Weprin reported earlier this afternoon that Max Kellerman will be filling in for Rick Sanchez at 8pm ET tomorrow night…

Sports analyst and CNN contributor Max Kellerman will anchor the 8 p.m. hour on the network… at least for one day.

Ok, so they’re giving Kellerman a looksie to see what he’s got in a news format. But you know what people will say…

“They picked the “sports guy” to fill in?”

MSNBC EP Changes…

TVNewser’s Kevin Allocca writes about EP changes at Andrea Mitchell Reports and Daily Rundown. I think this pretty much puts to rest the notion that Mitchell’s hour is going away any time soon…

CNN Devotes August to Katrina’s 5th Anniversary…

CNN announced that its devoting the month of August to Hurrican Katrina’s 5th Anniversary…

This month marks five years since Hurricane Katrina roared ashore in Louisiana and Mississippi, killing over 1,800 people and displacing many more. Just as residents were rebuilding their cities and towns after the storm, the Gulf oil disaster has crippled the region’s fishing and tourism industries. CNN programming throughout dayside and into primetime will commemorate the 5th anniversary of the storm with special coverage across all platforms that will chronicle how communities, people and businesses have changed over the past five years and how far the region has come in their rebuilding efforts.

CNN Heroes: Coming Back from Katrina,hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper kicks off CNN’s coverage and checks in with past CNN Heroes who are still in the area including: 2008’s CNN Hero of the Year Liz McCartney and her progress rebuilding homes with her group The St. Bernard Project; Top Ten CNN Hero Tad Agoglia and his First Response Team of first responders to natural disasters; 2009 Top Ten CNN Hero Derrick Tabb and his Roots of Music program for New Orleans kids; as well as additional new interviews with others in New Orleans who are doing great things to help rebuild the city. The half-hour special premieres Saturday & Sunday August 14th & 15th at 7:30pm ET. CNN International will broadcast the special on Sunday, August 22nd at 7am, 2:30pm and 10pm ET and Tuesday, August 24th at 8:30am and 12:30pmET.

MSNBC/CNN/HLN/ESPN/CNBC/Bloomberg vs. Mediaite? Doubtful…

Daily Finance’s Jeff Bercovici writes about Mediaite and its video useage…

And while Mediaite is sometimes scrupulous about observing the principles of fair use — keeping the video clips it uploads short; using them to make an original point rather than simply rehashing them — often it is not. For instance, here’s a seven-minute clip of a CNN interview with Hugh Hefner that the site posted, in a single, unedited chunk, with minimal commentary of its own. When I asked a CNN spokeswoman whether the network regarded that sort of thing as fair use of its content, she replied, “It does not appear to be authorized,” explaining, “We make our content available for third-party use via embeddable player or under license.” (Mediaite sometimes uses the embeddable clips supplied by CNN and other news providers.)

Likewise, when I asked an ESPN spokesmen about a five-minute clip of Pardon the Interruption that appeared on Mediaite’s sister site, SportsGrid, he replied, “The example you shared is a violation.” And when I asked MSNBC president Phil Griffin about Mediaite’s use of his network’s clips, he said, “I don’t like it and am taking it to our legal folks.” (That was several weeks ago; Griffin did not respond to follow-up inquiries.)

This is nothing new and not very surprising. The battle over internet content usage, particularly in the video arena, has been going on for a while now without a clear legally binding test case that settles the issue once and for all. Personally I think both sides, the content providers and the websites, are scared to death of pushing things legally to that point out of fear that they could open the gates wide open in the other guys’ favor if they should lose. So instead we get lots of huffing and puffing and chest thumping and small skirmishes with tiny battles won and lost but nothing is permanently settled.

What is surprising however is Mediaite’s response to Bercovici…

I emailed Hall and Abrams seeking elaboration on that claim — in particular, which networks support Mediaite’s practices and which don’t, and whether the site licenses any of the content it hosts. Hall replied defensively, declining to address any of my questions. “Singling us out feels like another in a long line of repeated efforts rooted in some sort of vengeful disdain or general disapproval of Mediaite and Dan,” he wrote. “Honestly, I’ve very little interest in assisting in this ongoing game.”

“defensively”? That goes way beyond defensive. That’s bunker mentality.

Update: WebNewser’s Alex Weprin chimes in…

To give another example, earlier this year, minutes after the series finale of “Lost,” Mediaite posted the last 10 minutes of the episode, with no actual analysis. This was well before viewers on the West Coast had seen even the first few minutes.

The Mediaite clip has since been replaced by a clip from Hulu.com, in which Disney-ABC is a partner.

Fox News, strangely, tells Bercovici they don’t have a problem with it. This was the same Fox News that shut down the News1News YouTube channel for doing exactly what Mediaite (and other sites like Johnny Dollar) are doing.

For me personally, I would love to not use YouTube. But ICN’s problem is WordPress.com and the fact that the site blocks useage of embeddable clips from most of the major media sites because of security concerns…issues which YouTube doesn’t have. Though don’t ask me why YouTube is different…

CNBC Hires Tom O’Brien for Chief Revenue Officer…

Business Insider’s Joe Pompeo writes that CNBC has hired Tom O’Brien as its Chief Revenue Officer…

CNBC has tapped Tom O’Brien, formerly executive vice president of NBC Local Media’s Nonstop Network, for the newly-created position of chief revenue officer.

He will report to CNBC president Mark Hoffman, who announced the move this morning.

“Tom will work globally across CNBC to develop and implement a ‘360°’ multi-platform revenue strategy that has monetization of the brand, customer solutions and growth at its heart,” Hoffman wrote in an email to staff.

The Roving Bill Bennett…still with CNN.

Johnny Dollar emailed me last night that Bill Bennett appeared on Hannity last night and wasn’t pushing a book. This morning Bennett appeared on Morning Joe. While that might lead some to think that Bennett was no longer a CNN contributor, that’s not the case at all. While he wasn’t promoting a book, which is what the ususal non-network appearance scenario encompasses, he was out promoting something; in this case mousemail.com.