Anonymous Specious Ranting…

FishbowlDC has a new feature called Anonymous Ranting. The debut installment features an “Administration Official” carping on MSNBC…

I have a job that requires me to have cable news on throughout the course of the day. Sadly, this has made me, and the rest of the country, dumber. Much, much dumber. My specific beef is with MSNBC. Right now, the network is trying to rebrand itself with the catch phrase “lean forward.” But the drivel they offer up is ramming the country backward. This morning, I have been fed a steady stream of “news” about Bristol Palin’s performance on “Dancing with the Stars,” a car chase in Miami, and the fact that People Magazine thinks actor Ryan Reynolds is the sexiest man alive.

The kicker? Prince William, of England, is engaged to his girlfriend. MSNBC even dedicated a segment to the ring he gave to his wife-to-be. My question: Who cares? Who really fricking cares?! What happened to the world of real news? About things that matter? Where’s the coverage of Iraq, Afghanistan, unemployment, the economy? Where are the stories about revolutionizing health care, innovating our energy sector, or improving our foreign policy?

To be somewhat fair, in between breaking coverage about what Britney is wearing and when Lindsay going back to prison, MSNBC gives its viewers snippets of actual relevant information about things that affect their lives, like taxes, the deficit, and Congress.

But the network – all cable networks – are woefully lacking in this department. Contessa, Chris, Tamron, I have a simple request. You work for a news outlet. Please, from someone that cares about the news, give us more of it.

Whoever this was, they are painting MSNBC with a very broad brush, almost to the point of being disingenuous. The amount of pure tabloidism the network has been covering is nowhere near as bad as it was last year or years past. To toss in such BS points as what Brittney’s wearing, something MSNBC is not covering and has never really covered, and to use that as part of their argument instead undermines said argument by revealing that the complainant has a very jaundiced view of MSNBC and doesn’t care about accuracy in their points.

Biden does MSNBC Again…

MSNBC announced that Vice President Joe Biden will be appearing on Morning Joe this Friday…

PROGRAM NOTE: VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN LIVE ON MSNBC’S ‘MORNING JOE’- FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19

NEW YORK – November 17, 2010 – Vice President Joe Biden will be interviewed live on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday, November 19. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski will talk exclusively with the Vice President from Washington, D.C.　

Evolving FNC?

Forbes’ Jeff Bercovici writes about changes at FNC…and what he thinks they mean…

It’s a commonplace by now at Fox that the President is a socialist. But according to Ailes, Obama is such a socialist that “[h]e had to be told by the French and the Germans that his socialism was too far left for them to deal with.” Ailes also says that Obama “has a different belief system than most Americans,” calls President Bush a “poor guy” and freely admits to coaching Glenn Beck to go easier on Republicans in order to avoid alienating his core audience. And that’s just part one of a two-part interview.

Shocking? Not so much to Fox insiders. “Ailes is always like that, but they don’t usually don’t trot him out,” says one. “He’s says that kind of thing in the hallways all the time. He’s somewhere to the right of Atilla the Hun.”

Why are Murdoch and Ailes parting the veil after all this time? There are a few possibilities. It could be that they see this year’s swing in the electorate as a vindication of their worldview; in other words, Ailes truly believes simply being objective when he says Obama is too socialist for the French. It could be they want due credit for what they’ve done: building a partisan media apparatus that doesn’t just cover electoral shifts — it produces them.

Free for All: 11/17/10

What’s on your mind?

Roger Ailes Interview…

The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, who’s on a roll this week, interviews Roger Ailes. This is part 1. Part 2 is tomorrow…

Sipping coffee from a “Fair & Balanced” mug, Ailes insists that his channel lives up to the logo in its treatment of the administration. “We are not interested in savaging them. We are interested in the truth. We’re interested in two points of view; most networks aren’t.” Fox has beaten the drums on some stories that the mainstream media have wound up following, such as allegations that led to the resignation of environmental aide Van Jones, and others—such as a voter-intimidation case involving two New Black Panther Party members—that are widely viewed as overblown.

Ailes may dismiss the constant carping about Fox, but he understands the importance of public perception. He says he was “totally surprised” when his parent company, News Corp., donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association and another $1 million to the Chamber of Commerce—and realized that “lefties would use it to immediately try to damage Fox News.”

But Ailes registered no protest. “Rupert Murdoch’s worked for 60 years,” he says. “He’s the biggest media mogul in the world. I don’t think anyone can tell him what to do with his money. That’s sort of his right.”

In a conversation about the donations, Ailes recalls, Murdoch told him: “I hope that didn’t cause you any problems.”

“Nothing we can’t handle,” Ailes replied.

CNNI’s “Augmented Reality”

CNN Observations has the press release from CNNI about a new desktop product that the network is calling “Augmented Reality”. First holograms on CNN Domestic and now…computer desktop avatars of Kristie Lou Stout?

CNN is redefining the news experience for its viewers debuting a unique technology-driven global marketing campaign. To launch CNN’s new weekday evening primetime line up in Asia Pacific, led by News Stream airing at 9pm Hong Kong time, the campaign uses Augmented Reality technology to animate CNN anchor Kristie Lu Stout.