CNN Takes a First Step Away From Impartial Anchoring…

This morning E.D. Hill anchored CNN Saturday Morning. For those incapable of grasping the significance of this apparent watershed moment, it is the first time I can recall, certainly in recent memory (the past few years), that someone on CNN’s payroll in an opinion position has been put in the news anchor chair (Update: Hill may have appeared previously in the anchor chair on CNN but I don’t know if it was before or after she started appearing as an opinionated contributor). Hill had been featured previously in an opinion position on Parker Spitzer and, later, In the Arena with Spitzer. Hill gave opinions on various issues which by rights should have disqualified her from ever appearing in the chair on CNN. Remember, CNN is the network that regularly flaunts Jay Rosen’s “View from Nowhere” where nobody is allowed to take an opinion on anything controversial. Controversial opinions got Rick Sanchez fired. Controversial opinions got Octavia Nasr fired. Now here’s is Hill, who has in the past definitely taken positions on hot button issues on both CNN and FNC, anchoring a newscast. Talk about sending mixed messages.

I can imagine this development hasn’t gone down well in parts of Atlanta and New York amongst some of CNN’s seasoned journalists. And rightfully so. This is no different from MSNBC putting on its opinion people to anchor special events or having some of its journalists (read: Martin Bashir) straddle that razor thin line between opinion and straight news anchoring. It’s dangerous territory when you have a history and then take that baggage with you when you try to anchor straight news. It could wind up blowing up in your network’s face.

Yes, it’s New Years’ Eve and nobody’s watching. That’s beside the point. The point is CNN today has taken a first step away from impartial anchoring. Whether this was an aberration or the beginnings of a new direction, only time will tell…

Update: It took a bit of time to sort out but Hill did anchor CNN Newsroom, post-opinion contributor debut, prior to this weekend. The last time was on July 6th.

Free for All: 12/30/11

What’s on your mind?

Trouble in Paradise?

Well that didn’t take long. Olbermann usually waits at least a year at his employment before becoming toxic. Apparently it’s been fast tracked at Current. The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes…

In the television industry, Mr. Olbermann is well known for fights with his bosses; stories abound about his refusal to speak to managers and executives. At Current, this behavior has continued, according to four people with knowledge of the situation, one of whom described Mr. Olbermann as “disgruntled.”

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because speaking publicly could jeopardize their jobs. Current’s chief executive, David Bohrman, did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday, on what is traditionally a holiday week. Mr. Olbermann did not respond to an e-mail.

Mr. Olbermann’s absences from Current’s election special reports — dubbed “Politically Direct” — are a setback for the channel as it tries to become known for political news and talk.

Somewhere Phil Griffin is saying to himself, “Better you than me”

CNN Announces Show Names for New Lineup…Viewing Public Perplexed…

TVNewser noted CNN has announced show names for its new morning programming. The 7am show will be called “Starting Point” and the 5am show will be called “Early Start”…

I know it’s tough throwing together two new programs relatively quickly but could CNN at least come up with a naming convention that at least makes sense? How can you possibly have a show called “Starting Point” come after another show? The whole point of a “Starting Point” is that there is no before. It’s the beginning.

The only thing that could possibly be worse than having a show called “Starting Point” that comes after another show is having a show that’s called “Early Start” before a show called “Starting Point”. Doing so implies that you can skip “Starting Point” precisely because “Early Start” does get the jump on what comes next.

Why do programmers have to overthink these things so? You can name a show without making it confusing (“Fareed Zakaria GPS”) or silly (“John King, USA”). Not that CNN is the only one to do this…all the networks think too hard over these things (“The Pulse” and “Rock Center”, anyone?). It’s not rocket science. Stop making it look like it needs to be. “The Situation Room” was an elegant solution that perfectly described the show’s format..at least until CNN streamlined the format which made the name not quite as applicable as it was in the beginning. So I know the networks can avoid the silly and nonsensical show names if they try to. They just don’t try hard enough often enough.

Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary: NBC Universal Coverage Plans…

NBC Universal announced its Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary coverage plans for its networks…

NETWORKS OF NBCUNIVERSAL ANNOUNCE “DECISION 2012” POLITICAL COVERAGE OF IOWA CAUCUS AND NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY

NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo to provide comprehensive coverage on air and online

Cross-platform programming includes on-the-ground reporting from an array of anchors and correspondents, live broadcasts, special reports, and an NBC network debate

NEW YORK, NY — December 29, 2011 — The networks of NBCUniversal today announced comprehensive “Decision 2012” programming plans for events surrounding the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. Top anchors and correspondents from NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, and Telemundo will report from these key early states as the first Americans begin to cast their votes for a Republican presidential candidate.

“Our anchors, correspondents, embed reporters, and producers are nearly everywhere — and we’re proud of that,” said Mark Lukasiewicz, Senior Vice President of NBC News Specials and the head of “Decision 2012” coverage. “Their wide-ranging work fuels NBC’s coverage both on air and online, delivering an unprecedented view of the complicated political landscape so that American voters can make their choices armed with information.”

Free for All: 12/29/11

What’s on your mind?

Kernen vs. Harwood?

From an emailer…

CNBC 1st 10 min of the 6 AM hour.

FYI, Joe Kernin really took John Harwood to school on the fallacies of the liberal campaign (non sense science) supporting global warming Harwood was upset and speechless.

I don’t suppose anyone has video?

Iowa Caucuses: CNN Coverage Plans…

CNN announced its coverage plans for the Iowa Caucuses…

CNN Plans Expanded Coverage of Iowa Caucuses

Countdown to Iowa: Final 48 Hours Kicks off “America’s Choice 2012” on New Year’s Day

On Jan. 3, the night of the Iowa caucuses, CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett, Candy Crowley and John King will lead CNN’s election night coverage from 7 p.m.-midnight from the CNN Election Center and live from Iowa. Chief political analyst Gloria Borger, senior political analyst David Gergen, along with political contributors James Carville, Ari Fleischer, Dana Loesch and Roland Martin, will be on hand to offer expert analysis. Piers Morgan will broadcast a special edition of Piers Morgan Tonight at midnight.

The day kicks off with Soledad O’Brien in her new time slot, reporting and anchoring from Des Moines, Iowa from 7-9 a.m. and Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin anchoring from the CNN Election Center from 5-7 a.m.

Leading up to and through caucus night, chief political correspondent Candy Crowley will anchor and report from Iowa beginning Dec. 28 through Jan. 3. In addition, State of the Union with Candy Crowley will originate live from Des Moines on Jan. 1 at 9 a.m./noon, ET.

Free for All: 12/27/11

What’s on your mind?

What’s Hot: 2011…

The Hottest of the Hot for 2011

John Roberts bolts CNN for FNC – Nobody saw this coming.

Keith Olbermann and MSNBC separate themselves. Olbermann joins Current TV – This would easily make ICN’s Top 5 media stories of 2011 because the ramifications are still reverberating nearly one year later. It affected MSNBC primetime. It affected CNN primetime and CNN’s D.C.’s bureau. If affected Current TV. It affected the media blogs who made a living regularly chronicling Olbermann’s every move.

Lou Dobbs joins FBN – The network now has a firm stable primetime lineup that gets better ratings than its business day coverage does.

Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Reactor Catastrophe – The world was transfixed on Japan in March as disaster after disaster transpired. Cable news mobilized in mass to cover it.

Arab Spring – And when it wasn’t covering Japan cable news was covering the Middle East uprisings that occurred as part of the “Arab Spring”

Trish Regan – Regan and CNBC parted company early in 2011. By the end of the year she would wind up at Bloomberg TV…

What’s Not: 2011

The Not Hottest of 2011

Parker Spitzer – First CNN dropped Parker, then it eventually dropped Spitzer…

Keith who? – MSNBC won’t talk about this publicly but losing Olbermann hurt the network. Slotting Lawrence O’Donnell appeared to work for a while but eventually MSNBC switched O’Donnell and Ed Schultz, which is never a positive sign of ratings bliss. Losing Olbermann made primetime more competitive for CNN though I still give the advantage to MSNBC. It probably had to happen eventually but MSNBC and Olbermann parting company was a watershed moment in cable news this year.

John King, USA – If you followed the industry press closely this year you could be excused for wondering why this show is still on the air. A steady stream of articles trying to bury the show came out through the year. If it wasn’t about the show’s poor ratings it was about the show being on the chopping block. What ended up happening is the show moved ahead one hour to 6pm ET where its ratings fortunes have not improved much if at all.

Merry Christmas…

ICN wishes you and your families a Merry Christmas. Bloggin resumes Monday with the What’s Hot/What’s Not 2011 spectacular. Which reminds me…I need to start writing that thing up as it takes forever…

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,136

Someone’s been feeding the FNC Master Control spiked eggnog apparently…

Free for All: 12/23/11

What’s on your mind?

Jay Gray Taken off Sandusky Story?

Page Six…

NBC’s Jay Gray may soon be taken off the Jerry Sandusky story, after he was arrested for DUI earlier this month. Gray was pulled over after leaving the home of Sandusky’s lawyer, Joe Amendola, where he was watching the Dec. 11 New York Giants game with several other reporters in an attempt to get an interview with the Penn State football coach accused of sexual assault. Gray has been covering the scandal since early November, but we’re told he “was kicked off the story” and left Pennsylvania this week. Another insider said Gray was on a family vacation, and the network “hasn’t made a decision” if he’ll continue to cover Sandusky. NBC declined to comment last night.

Sara Sidner Interview

TV Guide’s Stephen Battaglio interviews CNN’s Sara Sidner… (via J$)

TV Guide Magazine: You haven’t been reporting from overseas for that long. Just a few years ago you were at an Oakland TV station. You joined CNN’s bureau in New Delhi and now you’re covering revolutions. How has this experience changed you?

Sidner: I’m a different person. The way I react to stories has changed. The level of what is an amazing moment or what is stressful has gone beyond anything I can ever imagine. Going from the streets of Oakland — where there are a lot of murders and people are suffering — to Afghanistan where I spent some time, to going to Libya in the middle of this amazing transformation that was armed to the teeth… I suppose that the most important change in me is really seeing things through the eyes of people who I had no or little contact with and starting to understand the struggles outside of the small community or wherever I worked in the U.S. You suddenly are so close to this horrible life — and they can’t leave. When I leave, I always feel guilty. I feel I can’t do anything to make it better. I struggle with that when I leave a conflict zone. To leave feels wrong, but that’s what we do. We rotate in and out.

CNN Seeks Response from Piers Morgan Regarding Heather Mills Statement?

SKY News reported last night that CNN was apparently seeking “a response” from Piers Morgan after Heather Mills released a statement saying that she never disclosed contents of her voicemail.

Writing on her website, Ms Mills categorically denied ever disclosing voicemails from ex-husband Sir Paul McCartney to the former tabloid editor.

She said: “For the avoidance of doubt, I can categorically state that I have never ever played Piers Morgan a tape of any kind, never mind a voice message from my ex-husband.”

American network CNN said it was “seeking a response to the Mills statement from Morgan” as the phone hacking scandal threatens to engulf the US-based British media personality.

The demand for a response comes after the network described Mr Morgan’s evidence to the Leveson inquiry into media ethics on Tuesday as being “at times clipped and at times testy”.

What Sky relayed has to be part of a longer statement because CNN isn’t going to release a sentence fragment as the full statement. However I haven’t been able to find that full statement yet. If it was a statement.

Update: CNN did release this statement on the matter…

Piers Morgan has no additional comments re: the Leveson Inquiry or Heather Mills. His written statement and the complete transcript from the Inquiry can be found online.

Don Lemon Profile

CNN’s Don Lemon is profiled by Wyatt Williams in CL Atlanta…

“In general, when I watch cable news during the day, it’s frustrating because it reminds me of a game show. If I want to watch ‘The Price is Right,’ I’ll watch ‘The Price is Right.’ I’m not consciously thinking that when I’m on the air, but that’s just my personality. To be like, ‘Are we really doing this?’”

Lemon talks at length about his frustration with gimmicks, the flashy sound effects that sound like outtakes from an action movie, the quizzes meant to keep viewers watching over a commercial break (“If I really want to know the answer I’ll just Google it,” he says), and the way those ploys work to dumb down the audience and lose more in long-term credibility and viewership than any temporary gain. “I think you can have fun on TV, but you should pick your moments. It should be natural. You shouldn’t build in ‘Oh, this is our cutesy moment of the day!’”

Free for All: 12/22/11

What’s on your mind?

Free for All: 12/21/11

What’s on your mind?

Capital Expense…

The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple writes how CNN spending money allowed it to own the North Korea story…

Dominating an international breaking news story on a Sunday night is about far more than programming choices. It’s about far more than interrupting reporters’ leisure time. It’s about investment in news production. Herewith a timeline of CNN Kim-related newsgathering, annotated by helpful cash signs.

Key: $= Bucks; $$= Big Bucks; $$$= Huge Bucks

NBC’s Jay Gray Arrested for DUI After Attending Sandusky Lawyer’s Party…

TMZ is reporting that NBC Affilliate (and sometimes MSNBC) reporter Jay Gray was arrested for a DUI after attending a party put on by one of Jerry Sandusky’s lawyers… (via TVSpy)

An NBC Correspondent was arrested last week after allegedly getting wasted at a party thrown by Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer … TMZ has learned.

The Correspondent — Jay Gray — was invited by attorney Joe Amendola to watch the New York Giants game at his house on December 11. Amendola invited reporters from other media outlets as well, all of whom were vying for an exclusive interview with Sandusky.

The real news here isn’t the DUI. The real news is that NBC let Gray go to this party. If NBC ended up landing a Sandusky interview does anyone think Gray would be the one to conduct it? Hell no. It would go to NBC News’ top flight talent. Gray may be a capable reporter but he’s not one NBC would pick for that assignment if it became available. So why let him go there?

Is this really how NBC and other media outlets go about courting interviews? If so, this should be put to a stop going forward.

Season’s Beatings…

Normally when one sends out a trash talking Christmas card there’s usually some kind of factoid to back it up. In this case it’s more along the lines of wishful thinking.

For all of CNBC’s complacency; the lack of pushing the envelope, relying on tape in primetime, and in 2011 blown budgets and possible cutbacks and talent departures (or non-renewals depending on your point of view), FBN has beat its chest hard but really hasn’t moved the needle in business day. This card doesn’t carry the same zing as FNC cards do precisely because FNC is #1 and nobody can come close to touching it. The same can’t be said for FBN. Maybe one day. But that day isn’t today.

Press Releases: 12/20/11

CNBC (1)

CNBC’S “THE BAGHDAD JOB: IRAQ’S MISSING BILLIONS”

Monday, January 9th:

9:00 PM THE BAGHDAD JOB: IRAQ’S MISSING BILLIONS (30 Minutes)

12:00 AM THE BAGHDAD JOB: IRAQ’S MISSING BILLIONS (30 Minutes)

THE BAGHDAD JOB: IRAQ’S MISSING BILLIONS

Beginning in the earliest days of the war in Iraq, the New York Federal Reserve in New Jersey shipped billions of dollars in physical cash to Baghdad. The money came from Saddam Hussein’s assets frozen under global sanctions regimes and was sent to help restart the government and restore basic services. Much of it may have been used on the things it was intended for, but hundreds of millions, maybe billions of dollars are missing. As investigators are rushing to determine what happened to the money, CNBC tracked down the last American official responsible for delivering the cash before it disappeared inside the vaults of the Central Bank of Iraq. CNBC’s Eamon Javers reports.

Free for All: 12/20/11

What’s on your mind?

Kristen Welker Interview

The Philly Post’s Gail Shister interviews MSNBC/NBC News’ newly minted White House Correspondent Kristen Welker…

“I was really surprised,” says Welker, 35, who began at NBC in August 2010 as a Burbank-based correspondent. “There were a number of different options on the table–go back to Burbank; go to another bureau; cover a Republican candidate. “

Instead, she’s traveling the world with the Obamas and getting max face time on all NBC platforms. Tough break for a Harvard grad.

Hardly. For Welker, occupying a press cubicle at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is her life’s dream. “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a White House correspondent,” she says. “This is the most exciting moment of my life.”

Half of MSNBC’s Opinion Hosts Visit The White House…

Ok, well not really half…Maddow, Hayes, and Schultz count as three; three and a half if you want to toss in frequent MSNBC contributors Ezra Klein and Joy-Ann Reid. But it felt like half. ABC’s Jake Tapper wrote about it today…

The group chatted with the president about economic messaging, his agenda for 2012, the various campaign arguments against different GOP candidates, the desire among some Democrats for him to highlight his foreign policy accomplishments, fighting corporate influence and the “crappiness” of the Senate filibuster , as one attendee put it.

Those there included the Washington Post‘s Ezra Klein and Greg Sargent, MSNBC anchors Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow, and Chris Hayes, the Nation’s editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel, the New York Times‘ Frank Bruni, and stars of the interwebs Arianna Huffington, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, Faiz Shakir of ThinkProgress and Joy Reid of The Reid Report.

All I’ll say is that if that many of FNC’s hosts and contributors had shown up at the same time for a Bush chat, it would be all over the web and probably the media as well. I don’t like it. It makes me uncomfortable for MSNBC to let that many of its people have open access to the President. It may be innocuous but at the very least it looks bad/smells fishy, especially when we don’t really know what goes on at these things beyond the most cursory of summaries. I feel the same way about the off the record get togethers that beltway reporters occasionally enjoy with D.C. power brokers. I want more distance between D.C. and the people that cover it.

CNN Everywhere…

Bloomberg’s Edmund Lee writes about CNN going on a buying spree to facilitate “TV Everywhere”… (via J$)

The cable news channel, based in Atlanta, wants deals that could help it capitalize on the growing consumer interest in television viewing on multiple devices, also known as “TV everywhere,” according to CNN President Jim Walton.

“As more tablets are sold and smartphones, it’s only going to continue to grow,” Walton, 53, said in an interview. CNN is looking at companies that could aid its expansion onto new devices as well as its efforts to produce more content, Walton said. “If it helps us in that goal, we’ll be looking,” he said. “I wouldn’t rule anything out, but our focus is on digital.”

“TV everywhere,” a catchall concept for replicating the full television feed on any digital device, already helps CNN draw viewers via iPads, iPhones and the Web. The network streams its entire lineup on those platforms for people who pay for television. A startup that fits CNN’s digital distribution strategy might be a good target, especially at a time when subscriber growth in pay-TV is slowing, Walton said.

2011 Numbers: MSNBC…

MSNBC is noting its 2011 ratings…

MSNBC BEATS CNN IN PRIMETIME FOR THE THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR

MSNBC Tops CNN in Primetime Among Both Total Viewers and A25-54

“Morning Joe” has Best Year Ever

NEW YORK – December 19, 2011 – MSNBC ends 2011 on a high note, topping CNN in primetime among total viewers and A25-54. This marks the third year in a row that MSNBC has beaten CNN in primetime in the demo. 2011 marked “Morning Joe’s” best year ever and MSNBC topped CNN in every hour from 5p – 10p ET for the year.

The following are MSNBC ratings highlights for 2011 (data through December 15, 2011):

Free for All: 12/19/11

What’s on your mind?