Erin Burnett Interview…

The Hill’s Kris Kotto interviews Erin Burnett…

Q: What are some news stories that you’re really hoping to pursue for the show?

We did [a rehearsal show] the other night. Everyone’s talking about [New Jersey GOP Gov.] Chris Christie. Is he going to run for president? We took the time to look at Christie’s record. If you actually go through it, he’s for civil unions, believes people are born gay and his state has some of toughest gun-control laws in the nation.

So we’re answering, who is Chris Christie, and what does he stand for? Really producing stories like this in a clear, precise way is something that I think will distinguish us.

We like to call it “From bottom line to front line,” which encompasses the broad nature of news we’re going to cover … but if you look at facts and numbers, it’s amazing the conclusions you can make and the point of view you can have. And you can do that without coming out on the left or the right.

Press Releases: 10/04/11

Bloomberg (1)

BLOOMBERG AND THE WASHINGTON POST PRESENT FIRST ECONOMIC DEBATE OF REPUBLICAN PRIMARY SEASON

- New Hampshire Debate To Air on Bloomberg Television and WBIN-TV and Stream Live at washingtonpost.com/debate -

- Peter G. Peterson Foundation Serves as Broadcast Sponsor -

New York (October 4, 2011) – Next Tuesday, October 11th at 8pm ET, Bloomberg and The Washington Post, in partnership with WBIN-TV and host Dartmouth College, will present the first debate of the 2012 campaign focused solely on the economy.

With the nation facing sustained high unemployment as well as concern over deficits, weak growth and a possible double-dip recession, the Bloomberg/Washington Post debate will devote the entire program to a substantive exploration of the candidates’ specific plans for national economic recovery — in the state that will host the first Presidential primary a few months from now.

Free for All: 10/04/11

What’s on your mind?

More CBS Morning Rumors…

Page Six on Saturday wrote an item on what CBS is mulling doing about it’s morning timeslot. Once again the usual “CBS wants Morning Joe” storyline was trotted out but what caught my attention was this…

Sources say Licht has tapped his vast Rolodex to court a number of TV personalities, including CNN’s Erin Burnett and Ali Velshi. “They are casting their net wide,” an insider told us. Burnett declined an offer to host “Early Show” to join CNN, where she’s launching a 7 p.m. show on Monday. Rose, 69, is the newest name to be brought into the debate.

Charlie Rose to CBS would be wierd but what I found interesting is the Ali Velshi angle. This isn’t the first time this year that Velshi’s future has come up.

Joe Scarborough Trashes Cable News…

Capital New York’s Joe Pompeo writes about Joe Scarborough at an Advertising Week event yesterday when this happened…

“And a lot of information that is not fueled by screaming and rabid ideology that is just stupid,” he said. “I mean, seriously. We were running a press conference of the president, and CNN, I’ll just say it”—nevermind that CNN contributor David Frum was sitting two seats to Scarborough’s right (although Huffington, who moderated the panel, had introduced Frum as an editor-at-large for her website’s Canadian vertical)—”CNN, what’s their slogan? ‘The Greatest Name in News’ or whatever the hell it is, they’re talking to the Balloon Boy’s father’s lawyer. Like, a month later!”

The assembled conference-goers chuckled knowingly.

“All the days that I’m off and I look at the other channels,” he continued, pausing to insert the requisite, “Is this being taped?” caveat, “and I look at the shit that America has to watch; these shows—”

“Don’t name them!” Brzezinski warned.

“I won’t name them,” said Scarborough, “but they would have Tim Russert and Andrea Mitchell and brilliant people like that for the first 45 minutes, from 7 to 7:45, [and then] are onto Britney Spears!”

OutFront: Your Reactions…

Post your reactions to Erin Burnett’s new CNN show here…

Chris Jansing Talks about Being a Journalist…

Chris Jansing was at her alma mater Otterbein University talking to journalism students. This clip comes courtesy of Otterbein.

The Five to become permanent…

In a move that confirms just how far cable news has sunk; where opinion trumps news value, where anything apparently goes (except a 7 second delay of course),  where it’s never a fair fight between conservatives and liberals…it’s embarrassingly one sided even by FNC standards…Deadline.com’s Nellie Andreeva writes that FNC is going to make The Five permanent. God help us all…

Margaret Brennan Interview…

The Irish Times interviews Margaret Brennan…

On your show, you interview statesmen, business leaders and young entrepreneurs. Who was your favourite guest? I love telling stories. I love understanding things and connecting the dots. I’m not interested in how many T-shirts or tablet computers were sold at WalMart. I’m interested in how many transactions involved food stamps. How many people had to wait until midnight, when their pay cheque hit, to buy food. So as far as interviewees go, the office they hold often isn’t as important as the story they have to tell.

Free for All: 10/03/11

What’s on your mind?

FNC’s 15th:

The New York Daily News’ Richard Huff writes about FNC’s 15th Anniversary…

Ailes says he doesn’t look at the ratings as much now as he did in the earlier days of the network, though he’s well aware of trends.

“The toughest part of my job,” he says, “is not only maintaining the intensity but maintaining everybody’s intensity.”

To succeed in journalism, he says, you have to be curious, love the news and have an internal drive to be great. “You have to love to win and hate to lose,” he says.

So far, that’s working well at Fox and for Ailes.

The job doesn’t give him a chance to focus so much on the day-to-day aspects of programming a news network, though he loves that side of the business.

“I’ve always gone in with 10 or 15 ideas every day,” he says. “I do get a jolt out of the creative process. The biggest problem is I spend a lot of time in logistical meetings, strategy meetings, and not left alone.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2011/10/02/2011-10-02_fox_news_celebrates_15_years_network_has_become_no_1_in_cable_news_for_past_10.html#ixzz1ZisBQT12

The FNC Value…

Ad Week’s D.M. Levine gives us a history lesson on how FNC got cable penetration and what it now plans on doing with it…

Paying for carriage had been tried before. Broadcast networks did it when they first started negotiating carriage with cable operators in the early 1980s. What was different about Fox’s outlay was its size. As the USA Today piece pointed out at the time, Viacom offered cable operators cash to carry TV Land, but paid $1.20 per subscriber.

“Investing in carriage wasn’t a new concept,” says Fox’s Carry. “There was a time when even broadcast affiliates were paid by networks. What made our situation so unique was that the price was so high. What we did at the time was we told the competition, ‘This is where it starts if you want to get into the cable news business.’”

Fox had set such a high bar, in fact, that ABC, which was also toying with the idea of a 24-hour news network, backed out.

And then there’s this about the next round of FNC carriage agreement renewals…

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 10/02/11

What’s Hot:

CNN vs. MSNBC – Suddenly the race for 2nd in the primetime Demo is back in the headlines. But will it last?

What’s Not:

Craig Crawford – Crawford left MSNBC because he wasn’t happy with the network’s left turn to POV primetime programming. So what shoe does Crawford appear on last week? Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Come again?

Where’s the bleep? – Seriously FNC, put the seven second delay on permanently for 4 on 1 The Five. Or else, keep a good supply of soap on hand to wash Bob Beckel’s mouth out…

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 on Sunday night…