Photo Time: Part 2

Ok, Maldives dive photos, what there were of them, are now posted.

Free for All: 02/28/11

What’s on your mind?

Piers Morgan Interview…

Broadcasting & Cable’s Ben Grossman interviews Piers Morgan…

I don’t think enough of your personality is coming through on air. Am I wrong?

Probably not yet, I need to develop that side. I’m still a different guy on-screen than the guy you would meet over a drink or two. But at the beginning I just wanted to be solid, tick all the boxes to be accepted as a host, then I can develop my persona on-screen.

So you’re admitting you conformed?

A little bit, yes. I wouldn’t say I went soft, but I certainly think I was more concerned with being a solid performer than doing anything too outrageous. And I’m replacing a guy who was here for a quarter century. So I needed to do a credible job post-Larry, and I think I passed that test. Now the question is, can I excel? That’s what I need to live up to.

Do you need to supply more commentary on your show?

Yes, I would like to develop that more. But I don’t want to be partisan, be categorized as left wing or right wing. I’m an interviewer. I don’t want to move too far away from that into punditry, that’s not why I was brought here.

Bloomberg TV From the West Coast…

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Benny Evangelista writes about Bloomberg TV’s new west coast (yay!) show “Bloomberg West”…

The expanding San Francisco office of Bloomberg LP launches a new hourlong television show today aimed at beaming technology news with a Silicon Valley point of view to the rest of the world.

“Bloomberg West” will air weekdays at 3 p.m. from the business news service’s bayside offices on Pier 3.

“New York media looks at things they don’t understand as numbers and trades and stock charts,” said co-anchor Cory Johnson, a former hedge fund manager, CNBC correspondent and a founding reporter of TheStreet.com.

“We don’t care if a company made their numbers or missed their numbers,” he said. “We care what that tells us about the business and the technological changes that the company may be succeeding at or failing at.”

Rachel Maddow Profile…

The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz profiles Rachel Maddow…

Losing a dominant figure like Olbermann once “would have been a fatal blow to MSNBC,” says NBC News Chief Steve Capus, “but that’s no longer the case.” He calls Maddow a trailblazer who “doesn’t spend her day trying to get everyone to believe what she does.” Olbermann, who branded foes the “Worst Persons in the World,” constantly clashed with management, which threatened to fire him when he warned he might publicly challenge his suspension for donating money to Democrats.

“She’s our biggest show,” says MSNBC President Phil Griffin, who describes Maddow as “so friggin’ smart… Very few people can be so honest with a remark, a giggle, a serious look. There’s no performance art. That performance is Rachel.”

Adding to the pressure is the recent takeover of NBC by Comcast, a famously buttoned-down corporation that could demand changes (though Capus dismissed as “crazy” speculation that Griffin might be squeezed out). Olbermann, now with Al Gore’s Current TV, might start sniping at his old network once a non-disparagement agreement expires. But his shadow remains: Olbermann so thoroughly defined MSNBC as the voice of liberal outrage that Maddow, a self-described policy geek, must help forge a new identity. Maddow says she misses Olbermann but dismisses “suspicions” that the channel is toning things down, saying the ugly breakup “really wasn’t about the rest of us.”

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 02/27/11

What’s Hot:

ICN Gets Things Done – Not only did ICN make FNC give Juliet Huddy a bio page but it got it to spell her name right. What it hasn’t accomplished however is get her back on the air apparently.

Johnny Dollar – Dollar noticed similarities between a Rachel Maddow claim and a Shepard Smith claim. That alone isn’t enough to make $ hot. What made him hot was he got Maddow to cite his blog post on her show and then mischaracterize his post.

Roger Ailes and Judith Regan – The New York Times unearthed previously unknown details in Judith Regan’s lawsuit against News Corp.; details that due to a clerical error by a court, were left unsealed. The ramifications of these revelations have yet to be truly ascertained but will probably be negligible.

Doonesbury vs. NBC News – Well played Mr. Trudeau…

Kathleen Parker out at 8pm – Whether she left on her own or got forced out doesn’t really matter. She’s out.

What’s Not:

Kathleen Parker out at 8pm – Leaving Eliot Spitzer as the main attraction. Not gonna work.

Piers Morgan/Larry King Anti-Showdown – As I predicted, this showdown was anything but a showdown. As interviews went, it was fine. But it was being billed as more than that…and we didn’t get more.

Rachel Maddow – Maddow for all intents and purposes went 0-2 against J$ and Politifact.

Dylan Ratigan’s “Steel on Wheels” week – Ratigan’s show turned in an audaciously chummy segment on the chief sponsor for the “Steel on Wheels” week. And a lot of media writers noticed and questioned the propriety of the segment.

Six weeks of no What’s Hot/What’s Not – Bad Spud…bad, bad Spud…

Roger Ailes to be Indicted? Not so fast…

Apparently rumors are swirling that Roger Ailes will be indicted soon in connection with the fallout from the NY Times revelations on the Judith Regan lawsuit. These rumors got started because of something Barry Ritteholtz wrote on his blog. However, as Salon’s Justin Elliot writes there more to this story which makes the rumors based less on proof and more based on kibitzing…

On Sunday morning, the economics analyst and TV commentator Barry Ritholtz dropped a bombshell on his blog: Roger Ailes, the powerful president of Fox News, will be indicted in connection with allegedly telling a News Corp. executive to lie to federal investigators, according to Ritholtz’s blog post.

The story, which was based on what an unnamed source told Ritholtz, quickly boomeranged around the Web and Twitter. Several well-read web sites, including Business Insider and Political Wire, picked up the report.

As it turns out, Ritholtz’s source for the post was a man he happened to meet and strike up a conversation with at a Barbados airport over the weekend, he told me in an interview this afternoon.

Parker/Spitzer down, John King USA next?

The Wall Street Journal’s Lauren A. Schucker writes about possible further tinkering to CNN’s evening lineup…(sub req.)

The course correction comes as the network considers other changes to its evening lineup to reverse steep audience declines. According to people familiar with the situation, CNN is looking closely at its 7 p.m. hour, which features a political …

OUCH!

This Sunday’s Doonesbury is kind of off topic since NBC Nightly News isn’t on cable. But it’s obvious Trudeau has been watching the show – and how NBC News does that “synergy thing” – closely. Any good satire has more than an ounce of truth to it and as satires go, with this one effectively duplicating Brian Williams’ cadence to the point you can almost see Williams saying these sentences, this one is brilliant.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: Submissions…

After more than a month of not doing it, What’s Hot/What’s Not returns this weekend. Post your nominations. I’ll post the finalists Sunday night…

Chris Jansing Answers Questions…

Here’s a video of Chris Jansing answering questions submitted on Twitter.

Thomas Roberts Goes Behind the Scenes at MSNBC…

Here’s a video of MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts going behind the scenes at MSNBC.

Politifact Responds to Maddow and Bill Wolff

Politifact answers Rachel Maddow. Below are Politifact’s two email responses to Bill Wolff…

Response to Maddow producer Bill Wolff from PolitiFact Editor Bill Adair, sent Feb. 23, 2011

Bill –

In response to your request for a correction on the PolitiFact Wisconsin article about Rachel Maddow, I have reviewed the article, the show’s transcript, your e-mail to Greg Borowski and watched the segment. I don’t see anything that warrants a correction or clarification.

Some specifics:

Was it unfair to check this claim?
You wrote in your e-mail that “In short, Politifact alleges that an assertion was made on The Rachel Maddow Show that in fact was not made.” Your point was that it was unfair for PolitiFact Wisconsin to fact-check the claim that “the state is on track to have a budget surplus this year.”

But I don’t see how it’s possible to say the claim “was not made.” It was the opening segment of the show and the discussion of it went on for about one full minute:

About that News Corp. Letter from Judith Regan…

I had touched on this subject earlier today on Twitter but now that I’m home I can expand on my thesis in more detail…

There was something odd about the New York Times story on the revelation of the alleged un-named executive in the allegations made by Judith Regan’s lawsuit against News Corp. being Roger Ailes: the existence of a letter from Regan in News Corp.’s possession stating that Ailes did not intend to influence Regan.

In a statement released on Wednesday, a News Corporation spokeswoman did not deny that Mr. Ailes was the executive on the recording. But the spokeswoman, Teri Everett, said News Corporation had a letter from Ms. Regan “stating that Mr. Ailes did not intend to influence her with respect to a government investigation.” Ms. Everett added, “The matter is closed.”

Ms. Everett declined to release the letter, and Ms. Regan’s lawyer, Robert E. Brown, said the News Corporation’s description of the letter did not represent Ms. Regan’s complete statement.

What makes this odd is not that the letter may or may not rebut or undercut Regan’s original allegation (we haven’t heard the tape nor seen the letter so there’s no way to know for sure one way or another whether the tape proves the allegation or whether the letter convincingly negates the allegation) but the fact that the letter even exists and is in News Corp.’s possession.

Bloomberg Launches Daily Tech Show Monday…

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington writes about a new Tech show debuting Monday on Bloomberg TV…

Bloomberg is launching a new daily hourly television show called Bloomberg West next week, we hear. It’s on the air daily at 3 pm Pacific and then again at 8 pm. The show will focus on technology, innovation and business, says the promo clip that has been running regularly on Bloomberg. It’s being recorded from their new San Francisco offices.

Kathleen Parker “Quits” 8pm CNN Show…

Ken Jautz’s note to CNN about changes to its 8pm show followed by statements from Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer. I’ll have more to say on this later. I’m off to the hospital for dad…

I want to share with you some news today regarding our 8pm show. Kathleen Parker has decided to leave the program to focus on her writing, and we have decided to take the show in a new direction. We will be adopting an ensemble format with several newsmakers, guests and contributors joining Eliot Spitzer each night. The new program will be called, “In the Arena,” beginning Monday. E.D. Hill and Will Cain will join the program as well others within and outside the CNN family.

We have been pleased with how the 8pm hour has become a centerpiece of substantive, policy-oriented conversation, and we are looking forward to building on that with this new format. Simply put, the new program will look beyond the headlines to analyze and discuss the most important stories of the day. The program will provide context and analysis through balanced and thoughtful discussions and interviews with a wide range of guests and newsmakers who cumulatively represent various points of view.

Kathleen will continue to appear on CNN occasionally to provide her insights and commentary. We thank Kathleen for her hard work and all that she has done to help us launch our new 8pm program. We respect her as a colleague and appreciate her perspective and contributions.

Free for All: 02/25/11

I’ve had to block comments to the “FNC’s value” post because that’s the main entry that’s getting link spammed. So anyway, what’s on you mind?

John Roberts Interview…

The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea interviews FNC’s John Roberts…

“Fox is a much leaner and in some ways meaner machine,” he said. “We do not have the resources that CNN has; we don’t have the number of people that CNN has either. But it’s a group of people who really love what they’re doing and they’re willing to pitch in. Do more with less is really the kind of ethos here at Fox. We’re the #1 network, but in some ways we’re still an underdog because we’re a much smaller organization.”

Roberts still maintains ties to CNN, though: he is engaged to CNN anchor Kyra Phillips, and the couple is expecting twins next month. He says that their cable news rivalry keeps things interesting in their relationship.

“There’s always a little bit of competition in every relationship, I think that’s what keeps it fresh,” he said. “The fact that we may be television competitors is an interesting dynamic, but we don’t get angry at each other.”

Parker Gone “Within a Week”?

Page Six is at it again…

Eliot Spitzer is telling friends his CNN co-host Kathleen Parker “will be gone within a week.” Relations between the ex-gov, who once called himself a “[bleep]ing steamroller,” and his conservative co-host are at an all-time low. A source said, “Spitzer thinks she’s holding him back. The ratings surged when she was out sick, and he anchored alone during the turmoil in Egypt. Only very few anchors have the power to wipe out a co-host, and Spitzer thinks he has it. CNN bosses are high on Spitzer, and he might get his own show. Kathleen has been weighing her options. There’s this sense of dread among middle management.” We’ve reported that Parker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, could be dumped due to lack of chemistry with Spitzer. But our source said, “She’s putting up a fight.” CNN President Ken Jautz recently said, “There have been lots of press reports that I am contemplating changes, but I’m not going to engage in any speculation.” A CNN rep declined to comment.

Johnny Dollar Returns Maddow Fire…

Johnny Dollar answers Rachel Maddow…

And then MS Maddow turned to yours truly. Showing a screengrab of our post (but not giving the URL…gee, thanks Rache!), she stated:

MADDOW: But the right-wing is on fire right now about Shep Smith citing that same information I cited, because I also cited it and therefore it must be false.

Read our post again if you must, and look hard for where we implied, or suggested, or said any such thing. We didn’t. If that description was supposed to be a summary of what we wrote (and since this was on screen as she spoke what else could have been intended?) then it’s worse than bullpucky. It’s a lie.

I have to rule in $’s favor. I’ve read his post top to bottom, front to back, inside out, upside down, right side up, drunk, sober, stoned, comatose…he made no such allegation that if Shep cited something Maddow cited it “therefore must be wrong”. The only thing $ did was note that Shep coincidentally, or maybe not coincidentally, cited the exact same stat. And I can see no reason why Maddow would come to that conclusion based on $’s post.

Luis Carlos Velez Joins CNNI…

CNN Observations has the press release from CNNI…

Maddow vs. Politifact…

I haven’t seen this written about on the TV blogs (maybe I missed it with all that’s going on with dad) but Rachel Maddow Show EP Bill Wolff sent two letters Monday and Tuesday to Politifact over their fisking of the show’s claims regarding Wisconsin’s budget deficit…

In your effort to challenge a Capital Times editorial you have mistakenly ascribed the argument therein to Rachel Maddow. In so doing, you have half-quoted her in one instance, misquoted her in another, and misrepresented her overall.

Ms. Maddow is well aware of the Wisconsin budget shortfall. She said so just a few sentences after the line you decided to single out for “truthometry”:

“Even though the state had started the year on track to have a budget surplus—now, there is, in fact, a $137 million budget shortfall.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41669030/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/

To suggest — as your headline does — that we somehow neglected to report on the state’s real budget shortfall is absolutely erroneous.

Related: Mediaite’s Frances Martel writes about Maddow going on the offensive over the same subject and dragging J$ into it…

Rachel Maddow’s corrections segment, “Debunction Junction,” just corrected a correction. Maddow was accused of spreading false information by watchdog site Politifact recently when she claimed “Wisconsin is just fine” and on the road to a surplus, and the site attacked her for omitting information about the state’s budget shortfalls. Tonight, she took down the claim with video evidence and then some, saving some time to defend Shepard Smith and address personal attacks on her for being gay.

We recognize the journalistic value in writing a “where did the budget shortfall come from” piece, but, if you need a bogeyman to deny the existence of the shortfall so you can make your case in the Politifact truth-o-meter gotcha format, you should pick someone who didn’t explicitly say, “there is, in fact, a … shortfall.”

Controversy over Ratigan “Steel on Wheels” Show…

The AP has an uncredited story concerning controversy surrounding Dylan Ratigan’s “Steel on Wheels” road show…

MSNBC aired a feature touting a company’s “incredible” steel-making process this week, two months after saying the company would be its partner on a reporting trip about the American economy.

The five-minute feature on Nucor Corp. on Wednesday’s edition of “The Dylan Ratigan Show” raised questions about whether a news organization was granting positive publicity to a company in return for financial help.

MSNBC didn’t address what the partnership entailed, either in host Dylan Ratigan’s story or in its December announcement of his “Steel on Wheels” reporting trip. A network spokeswoman, Lauren Skowronski, said Thursday that MSNBC would not comment on what Nucor provided.

Chris Jansing Wants Your Questions…

Jansing put out this tweet a couple of hours ago…

got a question? send it in – I’ll be doing a video tomorrow with a little behind-the-scenes & answer your ??

Letting Sleeping Dogs Lie…or Not…

Well, well, well…usually when allegations are made as part of a lawsuit and the lawsuit is settled, that’s the last we ever hear of the allegation. Settlements tend to have all sorts of clauses attached to them to prevent disclosure of anything pertaining to the lawsuit by either party.

However, as a result of some sort of procedural error at the court, The New York Times’ Russ Buettner writes about a serious allegation made by Judith Reagan nearly five years ago which involves Roger Ailes…

But now, affidavits filed in a separate lawsuit reveal the identity of the previously unnamed executive: Roger E. Ailes, chairman of Fox News.

What is more, the documents say that Ms. Regan taped the telephone call from Mr. Ailes in which Mr. Ailes discusses her relationship with Mr. Kerik.

It is unclear whether the existence of the tape played a role in News Corporation’s decision to move quickly to settle Ms. Regan’s lawsuit, paying her $10.75 million in a confidential settlement reached two months after she filed it in 2007.

Of course, if it were to become public, the tape could be highly embarrassing to Mr. Ailes, a onetime adviser to Richard Nixon whom critics deride as a partisan who engineers Fox News coverage to advance Republicans and damage Democrats, something Fox has long denied. Mr. Ailes also had close ties with Mr. Giuliani, whom he advised in his first mayoral race. Mr. Giuliani officiated at Mr. Ailes’s wedding and intervened on his behalf when the Fox News Channel was blocked from securing a cable station in the city.

Free for All: 02/24/11

What’s on your mind? Mine’s on the link spam that’s slamming the blog and keeping my holding bin very busy…grrrrrr…

VJ-ism Strikes FNC…

The Fresno Bee’s Rick Bentley writes about FNC’s VJ initiative…(via FTVLive)

Visalia native Michelle Macaluso is one of five new Fox News Junior Reporters from around the country. She’ll report on the central San Joaquin Valley for the cable news channel and its various websites.

“The idea behind the program is to give the reporter enough cutting-edge gear that is portable enough and easy enough for them to be a one-person band,” says Sharri Berg, senior vice president of news operations and services at Fox.

Along with Fresno, the reporters will be based in Las Vegas; Columbia, S.C.; Jackson, Miss.; and El Paso, Texas. Macaluso will work out of her home and at local Fox affiliate KMPH (Channel 26.1).

The program puts reporters in areas where there’s no permanent Fox cable staff. These reporters will put together feature stories while waiting for assignments to handle major news stories. It’s also a way for young reporters to get practical experience before they move to local, network or cable news programs.

Charlie Gasparino Profile…

The New York Daily News’ Richard Huff profiles FBN’s Charlie Gasparino…

Fox Business Network reporter Charlie Gasparino has one goal – to pummel the competition.

That’s why he’s at FBN, he says, and this week he marks his first year at the Fox-owned business news cable network.

“I’d rather be part of a startup,” Gasparino says.

At CNBC, where he worked before Fox, his goals were different, and, he says, not as appealing.

“The goal here is to beat the hell out of CNBC,” he says. “To beat the established winner is so much more satisfying. It’s so much more exciting than it ever was at CNBC.

Behind the Scenes at Rachel Maddow’s Kansas Stopover…

The Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart writes about what went on during Rachel Maddow’s Kansas road trip last night…

7:47 p.m.

Maddow enters to wild cheers and applause, flanked by two Lawrence cops. She retreats to a corner and hunches over a computer, polishing her script with producers Rebekah Dryden (a Wichita native) and Laura Conaway, the former NPR talent who writes much of the Maddow Blog, which Maddow often likes to say is “better than the show a lot of times.”

“What you see here is what happens every night,” Bill Wolff, the show’s executive producer, tells me. The three women hover over their script until three minutes before airtime, paying no attention when half the bar begins chanting, “Ra-chel! Ra-chel! Ra-chel!”

An MSNBC-FNC Connection?

Johnny Dollar offers up some interesting analysis of a possible connection between Rachel Maddow and Shepard Smith, even though Maddow may not be aware of it. Nut graph…

So now we have not just similar language leading to the same conclusion, but also identical stats that appear to have been made up by Rachel Maddow…and repeated by Shep Smith the next day! A Shep-Maddow connection? We report, you decide.