CNN Wants to Trademark WHAT?!?!?

TVNewser’s Alex Weprin reports that CNN is looking to trademark the term “Magic Wall”. I hope they fail. Spectacularly.

Now, however, it appears that the channel wants to make sure that the “Magic Wall” is for CNN use only. Earlier this month the channel applied for a trademark on the term “Magic Wall” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to filings obtained by TVNewser.

If CNN was really serious about trademarking Magic Wall they would have done so four years ago when they first rolled it out. Doing it now is just silly and probably opens the network up to all sorts of generic use arguments. I hope all the other networks fight them over it and CNN winds up losing.

I’m no lawyer but it seems to me that should CNN win this it would establish a bad precedent where a network introduces a concept and a name, it takes hold across the industry and is used all over, and then years after the fact the network tries to regain control of it by applying for a trademark; in effect trying to put the genie back into the bottle it itself opened.

Out here in the tech world we don’t wait around four years to apply for a trademark on an idea we came up with. We apply for it before we even announce the product or concept.

CNN Florida GOP Debate Ratings…

CNN is noting its ratings from the GOP Debate in Florida last night but also of note is the network is breaking out social media stats in a big way which is a break from past debate releases…

CNN’S GOP FLORIDA DEBATE WAS #1 LAST NIGHT; POSTS BEST CNN DELIVERY YET IN THE KEY DEMO 25-54

DRAWS 5.4 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS AND 1.7 MILLION IN KEY DEMO 25-54

ALSO DRAWS AN ADDITIONAL 1.2 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS AND 562K IN THE DEMO DURING WEST COAST PRIMETIME

ANDERSON COOPER 360 TOPS THE COMPETITION AT 10P

CNN.com page views & video highest of last five CNN debates

According to Nielsen Fast National data, CNN’s Florida debate (8-10p, ET), moderated by Wolf Blitzer delivered 5.4 million total viewers and 1.7 million in the key target demographic 25-54 last night, Thursday, January 26. This represents CNN’s best debate yet this election cycle in the key demo and second best among total viewers (behind the Las Vegas GOP debate on 10/18). Last night’s debate ranked fourth among all primary debates so far this cycle in the key demo (including broadcast) and second among cable-only debates (behind only FNC’s 12/15 debate).

CNN was, by far, top rated during the 8-10p, ET time period last night among the cable news networks in both total viewers and the key demo. CNN topped FNC among total viewers by 160% (5.4m vs. 2.1m) and MSNBC by 444% (5.4m vs. 985k). In the target demo CNN topped FNC by 330% (1.7m vs. 405k) and MSNBC by 702% (1.7m vs. 217k).

O’Reilly Looks at MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan Fiasco…

(via J$)

It was kind of a missed opportunity. Sandy Rios doesn’t help herself any by bringing out the “1st Amendment” shield in her first breath. Sorry Sandy, the First Amendment primarily covers government intrusion, not what a private enterprise allows. And the Progressive crank didn’t fare much better. O’Reilly actually came out looking rather sane and smart by comparison, despite his silly assertion that everyone at MSNBC is progressive extreme. And it’s too bad that the segment veered quickly from what MSNBC did with Buchanan to whether Buchanan was correct or not.

Inside CNN’s iReport

Poynter’s Craig Silverman writes about CNN’s iReport…

The protests that erupted in Nigeria earlier this month over skyrocketing fuel prices initially received only a small amount of coverage from North American media, including CNN.

But CNN’s iReport team soon began seeing a steady stream of photos, videos and on the ground reports submitted by users in Nigeria. It became clear they couldn’t ignore the story.

“CNN wasn’t really covering that story at all until we started seeing an outpouring of contributions of video and photos and people writing into iReport over and over for days,” said Lila King, participation director for CNN Digital. “It made us say, ‘Gosh, you know we really need to be paying attention to this.’ ”

The result was increased coverage on CNN properties featuring the material submitted by a range of Nigerian citizens and freelancers.

This is iReport’s fifth anniversary, and a CNN spokesperson calls it “the most developed and active citizen journalism platform of any news organization worldwide.” It claims 1,002,428 registered iReporters, and 2.4 million unique users each month. King said iReport has had content submitted from every country on earth.

Free for All: 01/27/12

What’s on your mind?

Dylan Ratigan Profile…

The Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin profiles Dylan Ratigan…

Certain that the financial collapse of 2008 would trigger major political and economic reforms, Ratigan left a successful show on the business network CNBC for MSNBC, which he thought would be a better forum for delving into politics. He was surprised — and ticked off — that little seemed to be happening.

“That was my naïveté,” Ratigan says. “What stunned me was that neither the media nor the political parties were willing to engage in debate on the corruption in our banking system which underlay the financial collapse. Since then, not only is there no debate on banking corruption, but there’s no debate on corruption in healthcare or in trade policy.

“The unifying factor in all those matters is that the funding of both our political parties comes mainly from the greedy bastards, the big corporations, who are buying our politicians.”

The focus of Ratigan’s show since then has been the nexus between big business and government, a dirty game in which corporations use government to leverage big profits, while leaving their losses to be covered by taxpayers. Not that taxpayers are wholly innocent, he quickly adds.