Deborah Turness Named President of NBC News…

NBC made it official this morning and announced the hiring of Deborah Turness as the President of NBC News…

NEW YORK — May 20, 2013 — Deborah Turness, former editor of ITV News, the United Kingdom’s most-watched commercial network news service, has been named President of NBC News. It was announced today by Pat Fili-Krushel, Chairman, NBCUniversal News Group.

Turness joins CNBC President Mark Hoffman and MSNBC President Phil Griffin as part of the NBCUniversal News Group leadership team reporting to Fili-Krushel. She will be based at the NBC News headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and begin her new role on August 5.

As President, Turness will be responsible for all aspects of the NBC News division including the programs “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Today,” “Meet the Press,” and “Dateline” as well as its news bureaus around the world. She will also oversee all breaking news, investigative and enterprise reporting, along with the division’s digital properties including NBCNews.com. Additionally, she will have oversight of Peacock Productions, an award-winning in-house production company.

“Deborah has built an outstanding reputation as both a journalist and business executive with a proven track record for innovation and collaboration,” said Fili-Krushel. “She is a leader with a global perspective, who is also very familiar with NBC News, having worked closely with us through our partnership with ITN. Her passion for the news business, combined with her creativity and vision, will be a tremendous asset to NBC News, and I’m very pleased to welcome her to the team.”

CNN’s New “New Day” Promos…

Newscast Studio has CNN’s new “New Day” promo…

The Ubiquity of Sleeveless…

Libby Copeland writes in Slate about sleeveless-mania…

There’s a reason why the women of TV news have embraced sleevelessness while treading carefully in matters like cleavage (sexy weather reporters aside). Bare arms read as a kind of smart-sexy, a look that women in positions of authority can pull off. Michelle Obama is responsible for this, as are socialites of the Manhattan cocktail circuit, for whom bare arms long ago became a currency of wealth and fitness. MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski and Chris Jansing are fans of the look, as is CBS’s Gayle King, and CNN’s Brooke Baldwin. Fit arms are about control, a state of poised strength you work at—so much so that supermarket magazines have accused Madonna and Angelina Jolie of pushing their exercise regimes too far, featuring their ropy, veiny biceps right next to close-ups of some other unfortunate’s cellulite. But if cellulite and cleavage can read as sloppy, toned arms are the very opposite; they’re all about intention and control. Which is why newswomen get to show them off. They are appropriate for early risers and Ivy League overachievers—the sexiness of success rather than vulnerability.

And yet. It’s telling that we now expect sexy at all from our TV newswomen. We haven’t always. Beauty, sure. When Diane Sawyer appeared in the ’80s in an off-the-shoulder evening dress on the cover of Vanity Fair, the decision caused such a stir that she was moved to remind a reporter that “there were no tassels involved.” But if you look back at images of newswomen from the ’80s and ’90s, they were notable for what they didn’t show. When MSNBC launched in 1996, Couric covered everything but her face, wearing a turtleneck under her beige blazer for the virgin broadcast. And women who’ve been on the air for decades tend not to go bare, either because they think it inappropriate to do so at their age or because they were schooled at a time when TV reporters didn’t do such things. In either case, clothing confers dignity. You can’t imagine Christiane Amanpour leveraging her erotic capital on the air.

It does, after all, matter when female voices of authority disrobe. Baring one’s skin, whether it’s décolletage or arms, remains an indicator of seriousness—are you going to look at me, or are you going to listen to what I’m saying? Because, as the Washington Post pointed out last year in a story about the blazer disappearing from newswomen’s wardrobes, male viewers appear unable to do both. A 2010 study found that the sexier the female anchor, the less men retain of what she says. They literally see instead of hear her. Rachel Maddow has said this is why she maintains a “conveyor belt of gray blazers,” in order to look the same for every broadcast.

“Don’t focus on what I’m wearing,” Maddow says. “Focus on what’s coming out of my face.”

This Just In…Cable News Has A Breaking News Problem…

Buzfeed’s Dorsey Shaw compiles a devastating summary of the lengths Anderson Cooper 360 goes to drag out Breaking News as “Breaking News”. The problem here is this isn’t just a problem for 360. It’s a cable news wide problem; though it manifests itself in different ways on each channel.

The bottom line: Cable News hypes breaking news as breaking news long past the point it broke.

Press Releases: 04/11/13

BBC (1)

Jon Miller and Rob Norman join BBC Global News Ltd Board

Pair join BBC Global News Ltd board to advise on development and integration of the BBC’s global 24 hour news channel BBC World News and digital news platform bbc.com/news.

New York, 11 April 2013 Rob Norman, Chief Digital Officer of GroupM Worldwide and Jon Miller, co-founder, Fuel Media Capital have been appointed Non-Executive Directors of BBC Global News Ltd, which owns and operates the BBC’s commercially funded global 24 hour news channel BBC World News and bbc.com/news.

Norman and Miller will join the Board of Directors for BBC Global News Ltd., which includes the Director of Global News Peter Horrocks and Chief Executive Officer Jim Egan.

The Future of Anchoring? I Hope Not…

Capital New York’s Joe Pompeo writes about Alicia Menendez and Abby Huntsman on HuffPost Live but there is a cable news tie in here. Not a good one though…

Huntsman and Menendez were among some 300 candidates to try out for HuffPost Live out of a pool of more than 600 applicants, said Josanne Lopez, executive producer of HuffPost Live and a veteran TV-news talent scout who, in her previous job at CNN, had been lobbying the network to pick up Menendez and other fresh young things. (She was in Will Cain’s corner, too, lucky for him.)

In the end, Huntsman and Menendez were among the top 10 applicants who nailed it.

“The things that immediately impressed me about Alicia were her intelligence, her interest in a range of topics and her humor,” said Lopez. “That was the clincher.”

As for Huntsman, whose name was originally floated by Arianna Huffington, “I was just struck by her magnetic personality,” said Lopez. “She exudes warmth. She may not have the technical skills of a typical anchor, but she has the ability to get a conversation going.”

GIVEN THEIR INCREASING VISIBILITY AS COMMENTATORS on cable news and the experience they’re gaining as hosts on HuffPost Live, where they also produce segments behind the scenes, it wouldn’t strain credulity to picture Huntsman or Menendez sitting in an anchor’s chair at MSNBC or CNN or some other “real” TV operation down the road.

It might not strain credibility on MSNBC, mainly because MSNBC’s news anchor credibility is in tatters after the network veered away hard from straight news to opinion/analysis for most of its traditional news hours, but it sure as hell would strain credibility at CNN where such maneuvering has not yet occurred and there still is a pretty substantial firewall that exists there between the two.

The whole concept makes me want to vomit though. The idea that you can pluck someone off the street and make them a news anchor is straight out of Broadcast News. TV News, especially cable news, needs more internal vigilance to adhere to basic news journalism standards, not less.

Olbermann and Current Settle?

The Hollywood Reporter’s Matthew Belloni writes that Keith Olbermann and Current TV have settled their lawsuits…

Keith Olbermann has resolved the $50 million legal dispute with Current TV over his firing from the network, a well-placed source tells The Hollywood Reporter.

A settlement is said to have been reached during a private mediation session in San Francisco on Tuesday. Terms of the deal will not be disclosed. Olbermann and Current, who sued each other in April 2012 over his dismissal from the liberal-leaning network, are expected to file court documents soon dismissing the case.

Olbermann is in San Francisco as his Twitter feed shows…

Now THIS is San Francisco. PCC car still taking the curves in its 75th year

Alexis Glick Joins Cumulus Board of Directors…

Cumulus Media announced a couple of days ago that Alexis Glick had joined its board of directors. I post this as further evidence that Glick won’t be returning to TV fulltime…

Media Veteran Alexis Glick Joins Cumulus Board of Directors

ATLANTA, February 20, 2013 – Cumulus Media, the nation’s largest pure-play radio broadcaster with 525 stations and a network including more than 5,000 affiliated stations, announces the appointment of media industry veteran Alexis Glick to the company’s Board of Directors effective immediately.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 01/27/13

What’s Hot:

Hail to The Chief – Inauguration day was Monday (although officially it was Sunday) and the cable nets did what cable nets do under such circumstances, go overboard.

AC vs. AC – The National Enquirer entered the Ann Curry fray by reporting that Anderson Cooper’s nose was allegedly out of joint big time about the possibility that Curry would displace him.

Eric Bolling – Was named the new host of Cashin’ In on FNC’s Saturday Business-less Block…

Rachel Nichols – Nichols jumps to CNN (and Turner Sports) and will get a weekend sports show. ESPN and NBC Sports Network are both quaking in their boots at the prospect of CNN’s competition. Or not.

Sarah Palin splits with FNC – The signs were pointing to a split coming anyways at some point.

What’s Not:

Clash of the Rich Gassbags – Seeing a pissing match between two rich people live on CNBC might have had the business crowd going gaga but for the rest of us it seemed more like watching Piers Morgan throwing Twitter daggers at Lord Sugar. We don’t care!

Long plane flights with multiple layovers – More on that soon…

Inauguration Day: Your Reactions

Post your reactions to Inauguration Day and the coverage thereof here. Fortunately, I’ll be working so I have a great excuse to avoid all the hype that will flow out unchecked on cable news today…

Business Booking Wars…

The New York Post’s Claire Atkinson writes about the booking trench wars going on between CNBC and FBN…

According to On the Money’s CES snoops, former CNBCer Liz Claman is gaining a reputation as the go-to reporter for high-level CEO executives, even earning the nickname “Red Fox.”

So when Fox bagged an interview with the Jets’ future ex-quarterback Tim Tebow and TiVo chief executive Tom Rogers, who, incidentally, used to be president of NBC’s cable unit, CNBC had a hissy fit. Tebow stars in TiVo’s TV ad campaign.

The war between the two networks continued over Sony CEO Kaz Hirai, who granted Fox Business News journalists an interview despite a CNBC producer and cameraman going crazy trying to lure Hirai to CNBC first.

That news infuriated CNBCers, who went into “hysterics,” said one witness.

BBC World News Set To Launch In New Facilities…

On January 14th BBC World News will begin broadcasting from Broadcast House and January 14th as part of the relocation plans of the entire BBC broadcasting empire into the new facilities. The network put out this picture of the newsroom yesterday. BBC World also put out a splashy video on YouTube highlighting the move…

Cable News 2013 New Year’s Resolutions…

It’s that time again. Here are the 2013 Cable News Network Resolutions…resolved in absentia by yours truly…

ICN resolves on behalf of CNN…

- To not succumb to Jeff Zucker’s temptation to dumb down CNN’s hard news brand. There is more to news than Politics…yes. That does not include breaking Entertainment Industry news. Nor does it include an emphasis on taped reality TV style programming, crime docs, or topical movies.

- To decide on a format for mornings before deciding on any talent changes.

- To change the public narrative of what it’s trying to accomplish. Jeff Zucker made a tactical error when, during his unveiling conference call with Phil Kent, he bit on a reporter’s boobytrapped question about primetime and put it out there that CNN’s goal was to be #1 again. That’s the old CNN narrative and it’s a loser because CNN will never be able to match FNC’s primetime ratings, let alone beat them. The new narrative is branding and profitability and why ratings, while important, are not the defining measuring stick of success or failure in a niche market like cable news. I have argued for years that CNN can’t win the perception war in the battle of the cable news networks if the key measuring stick is ratings. That will always favor FNC and MSNBC because the two all but abandon news in primetime and it’s not a fair fight when you pit news against what is essentially echo chamber infotainment for most of their competition’s primetime hours.

- To think “Format first, talent changes second” – Fix your programming before fixing your talent.

- To not get hung up on “name talent” as a panacea, something this network has done too many times in the past. It doesn’t work. Maddow wasn’t a name when she got her show. Even Olbermann wasn’t really a name in cable news before he got his MSNBC show (the second one). O’Reilly and Hannity were basically nobodies to the majority of the country when they joined FNC. See a pattern here? You can develop hit programming without having an all star name attached to it. And, actually, having an all star name tends to raise the stakes and focus everyone’s attention on the show and its immediate success or failure.

ICN resolves on behalf of MSNBC…

- To have an explanation at the ready when the 2013 numbers drop off after the election.

- To finally rid the network of the taped crime programming. MSNBC expanded greatly on the weekends and it has been airing its full primetime lineup on Friday nights including west coast repeats. This isn’t 2006. It’s 2012. MSNBC doesn’t need to fill the hours with tapes crime shows that now generate lower numbers than their primetime programming.

- To not put Ezra Klein, if he should get a show, in primetime…especially at 8pm.

- To start thinking about what it’s going to do with Mornings when Joe and Mika bolt…as everyone in the industry expects them to. Don’t think for a second that CBS wouldn’t drop Charlie, Norah, and Gayle in a heartbeat if it could land those two.

ICN resolves on behalf of FNC…

- To change things up. Every three to five or so years FNC goes through a bunch of programming and talent purges. It’s one way the network has stayed fresh and on top for so long despite using the same tired old gameplan it’s used for the last 13 years. I know, I know…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Well things break down eventually because of sameness and age. Look at the Today Show.

- To shrink their graphics. They are too damn big now. Ok, so you made them readable for SD vidwers because you broadcast in SD at 16×9. Well, why are we HD viewers getting punished by SUCH BIG LETTERS? Screw the SD viewers! They should have upgraded to HD by now anyways!

- To cancel the Saturday Business Block – If I want business news with a Fox flavor, I’ll watch FBN. I won’t watch the Saturday Business Block on FNC which isn’t even about business anymore (as it was 11 years ago) as much as it’s about political style bashing. I can’t learn anything about business watching that block now. It’s a holdover relic from a time when News Corp. didn’t have a business channel.

ICN resolves on behalf of Bloomberg TV…

- To get bigger HD penetration. This is a 2012 resolution holdover since I still don’t have Bloomberg in HD on DirecTV.

ICN resolves on behalf of CNBC…

- To slap a muzzle on Rick Santelli and his ilk – I’m sick of “the crazy” breaking out on CNBC the way it has been this year. If I’m watching CNBC it’s because I want business news and analysis, not the freak show shoutfests that have been breaking out there. I would expect disagreement between analysts but we’re talking CNBC talent infighting here. These days the only time CNBC makes news on the media blogs is when one of these spats erupts and there’s viral video of it. That’s not good for CNBC’s reputation.

ICN resolves on behalf of FBN…

- To keep going in the way they’ve been going. Progress was made this year. Let’s not screw it up with bad programming decisions. Yes, re-signing Imus was a long term admission by the network that despite the progress made, it’s still not ready to take on CNBC head to head in the mornings. But momentum has been gained elsewhere, particularly in primetime.

Here are the 2012 resolutions and the results…

The Gift That Keeps on Giving…

Page Six continues to dip into that seemingly bottomless well that is CNN and Jeff Zucker…

As speculation hits fever pitch over whom Jeff Zucker will woo next to try and reinvigorate CNN, sources tell Page Six he’s eyeing ABC’s prime-time news lineup. After poaching senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper, insiders say Zucker’s looking at further ABC talent, including “20/20” co-anchor Chris Cuomo. (Cuomo, who co-hosts the show with Elizabeth Vargas, is also ABC’s chief law-and-justice correspondent and the brother of Gov. Andrew.) “Jeff’s still looking for an anchor he can basically make the centerpiece of the network,” a source says. We’ve previously reported that Zucker’s been eyeing former “Today” host Ann Curry, but an NBC rep insists she’s under contract. The onetime NBC head’s also reportedly aiming to beef up Hollywood coverage, and might move CNN’s Erin Burnett to mornings to battle “Today” and “Good Morning America.” Another source sniffed, “Jeff should be careful how many people he tells will be the face of the network.” Reps for both CNN and ABC declined to comment.

The only thing remotely newsworthy here (don’t believe the Chris Cuomo hype…I can’t see him leaving ABC after just getting 20/20) is that Zucker is looking for a “centerpiece” anchor. Extrapolating on that, one would conclude that Anderson Cooper will be losing his “face of CNN” status. If this story is true of course…

Pushback…

Last night, The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul Bond had pushback from FNC regarding Gabriel Sherman’s piece on David Clark’s alleged edict on Gun Control disucssion…

One problem with that narrative, though: Fox News insiders say it isn’t true, and that, in fact, both sides of the gun-control debate were represented many times throughout the weekend’s programming.

And…

But a cursory look at the programming that Fox News aired over the weekend indicates that gun-control was a topic at least five times, including a lengthy discussion between host Chris Wallace and a Democratic lawmaker followed by Wallace with a Republican lawmaker. That segment is embedded below, and similar segments where gun control was a topic over the weekend can be seen at FoxNews.com.

Then there’s this…

And sources say the initial email from Clark was not the network-wide edict it has been portrayed as, but an email to three people concerning a panel discussion on one show.

The initial email from Clark to three panelists reads: “Gentlemen, it is too soon to talk the politics of gun control. The victims’ families still don’t even have the bodies of their loved ones. Let’s leave it for another time. Thanks.”

New York Magazine quotes from follow-up emails Clark sent to those who were involved with the segment. A Fox News representative said they are not authorized to share private emails between executives and on-air panelists and could not comment further on those exchanges.

Let me get this straight. Elements at FNC were authorized to give out Clark’s original email, if that was the sum total of Clark’s original email. But those same elements were not authorized to give a fuller picture of subsequent emails nor shed any more light on the substance of those emails? That’s a very odd stance to take. It doesn’t make sense if the end goal is a full accounting of what happened and why. Remember, the point of this article is ostensibly to shoot down Sherman’s story. So why hold back on what appear to be key details?

It’s clear that Gun Control was discussed on FNC on Sunday. At least three examples have been publicly cited; The Fox News Sunday segment (per Sherman himself), a discussion on Fox and Friends Sunday and another in the evening during a special Special Report hour (as mentioned by Alex Weprin Merril Knox on TVNewser today). But what happened during the time period between Fox and Friends and Special Report (Fox News Sunday airs on FOX broadcast and may or may not fall outside of Clark’s editorial jurisdiction)? That’s a huge chunk of hours when the subject seems to have not been discussed at all or at the very least has not been demonstrated to have been discussed at all.

I just don’t feel like we have a complete picture of what transpired over the weekend. It’s like looking at a jigsaw puzzle that’s only partially assembled.

Free for All: 12/14/12

What’s on your mind?

Dressing The Part…or not…

The Washington Post’s Katherine Boyle pens a lengthy article on female anchor fashion that covers quite a wide area…

For decades, the suit jacket transformed women into workers. With jackets required for entrance at male-dominated clubs and boardrooms, women bundled up their breasts to blend into a professional culture that predated their arrival. But in recent years, even as men continued to assume corporate uniforms of suits and ties, newswomen — one of the last vestiges of female suit wearers — have resoundingly dismissed them from their closets. They now flank themselves in bright sleeveless sheath dresses and stiletto heels, renouncing the once hard-and-fast edicts of television news: no bare legs, no long hair, no feminine distractions from the news. The revision of the female anchor’s dress code happened swiftly and broadly on network and cable television. And if newswomen are the most visible barometers of workplace fashion, the women’s suit may one day go the way of the petticoat.

“Ten years ago, professional dress meant a Talbots suit for women,” said Dave Smith, president of SmithGeiger, a market research firm that consults with news networks. “What’s appropriate for female talent on television has evolved because of familiarity. The audience has equal regard for female and male anchors. It’s given women far more liberty to be feminine.”

It’s also gotten out of hand…especially on cable news. This topic is one I had been mulling over doing a story on for a while now. If, ten years ago, the female cable news wardrobe situation skewed too heavily towards a cookie cutter suit sameness, now things have gone too far in the other direction. Now we see an over abundance of bare shoulders which itself has become the ‘new suit’ in terms of its ubiquity and boring sameness. Five years ago you could make a drinking game where you took a shot if someone wears a sleeveless dress and not get hammered. You try that now and you’ll be comatose by mid-day.

Sleeveless-mania is so out of control now it has broken though traditional seasonal patterns. The summer dress and its cousins would traditionally pop up in mid spring and hang around into the early fall when more winter style clothing like turtlenecks and boots would start appearing. No longer. Now the sleeveless or short sleeved dress appears year round.

Including right now. It’s 33 degrees in New York City today. All you NYC female anchors wearing sleeveless or semi-sleeveless dresses this week I have just one question for you, “Are you nuts?!? IT’S 33 DEGREES OUTSIDE! Why are you dressing for weather that doesn’t exist within a thousand miles of you?!?!”

We viewers aren’t stupid. We know when someone is trying too hard in the fashion department wearing clothing they wouldn’t normally wear this time of year. I was actually planning on waiting for the first big NYC snowstorm and then video capture every cable news talent that wore a sleeveless or semi-sleeveless dress and post them on the blog and call them out for it. I may still do that.

We need some sanity returned to cable news fashion. Dress sensibly. Dress for the occasion. Dress for the season. Dress for the weather. Don’t dress like you have no idea what occasion, season, or weather there is.

Gobble This…

So it’s like a Thanksgiving tradition at the Spud family. Thanksgiving comes around and Spud’s family has to battle the plumbing. I kid you not. Over the decades there have been numerous events with the septic tank and/or the house plumbing. Spud’s parents don’t have the septic tank any more (thank God!) but the house acting up is still a semi annual Thanksgiving tradition. Once it was Spud’s father who did battle with the house with a wrench, a snake, lots of swearing, and a shower to clean off the stinky mess. I inherited the position as chief plumber about a decade ago. I know, I know…”Why don’t you call a plubmer?” It’s THANKSGIVING!!!! You can’t get a plumber to come around for four days. You want to wait around four days with a backed up sink?

This year is no exception. Usually the problem is cured within an hour after a wrench, a snake, lots of swearing, and a shower to clean off the stinky mess take place. But this year the house has come prepared for battle. The plug is in a new location in a pipe between the sink piping and the main drain pipe under the floor. Not easy to get at, especially when Spud’s mom is busy working on the Turkey. In fact the House has won this round tonight. Dish washing will have to be done downstairs in a smaller sink tonight. Well I guess I can use the exercise.

Happy Thanksgiving…

Uh…Thanks…I Guess…but Seriously…ME?

Ok…sure it was water cooler material, and I guess it’s nice to be thought about. But come on…I am NOT one of the 13 best Media Reporters in the country.

Look at some of the people on that list…Brian Stelter…Michael Calderone…Jim Romenesko…David Zurawik… We’re talking serious reporters here…people working hard to tell important stories in the TV News world. Me? I lob hand grenades from a Barcalounger cloaked in anonymity. I’m not saying anything that any bozo couldn’t say if they paid close attention to this industry and how it functions/disfunctions. Whether that itself is an indictment of others covering the beat or not, I leave for others to decide.

I will say, honor or not, it’s hard to take this list too seriously given that both Gabriel Sherman and Howard Kurtz didn’t make the cut. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!!??! I know Kurtz is polarizing, and I’m not always a fan of what he does, but he has the kind of insider access that some of the writers on Mediaite’s list would kill for. Controversial or not, that alone is enough to put him on the list in my book. And Sherman? Read this. It’s two years old but nobody has come close since it was published to putting out a story with that many revelations and must read nuggets in a single article.

I would gladly and humbly relinquish my inclusion to either of these men.

p.s. And I didn’t like the cheap shot thrown at TVNewser either. Yes, it’s the USA Today of media sites and doesn’t take many positions on anything. But that’s not its charter and it wasn’t its charter even when Stelter was running it (less so when Stelter had Cablenewser).

One more thing: Yes, the blog has seemed the past few months to be running at half speed or as Mediaite put it “seems to be on “hiatus” as often as he is writing”. This development has not been lost on me. I can’t pin this down on any one thing. Part of it is me back working again the past six months (though still a temp). Part of it is also due to the way I blog. I blog when I have something worth noting or something that’s got me worked up. There was a time many years ago when I’d write about anything tangentially cable news related regardless of how banal it was. I just can’t do that anymore. It feels too much like going through the motions…blogging for blogging’s sake. If ICN was a for profit blog, I’d have no choice but to blog as much as possible. But this is still just a hobby for me and as such I can “soul blog” and be true to myself.

Election Day Coverage: Your Reactions…

Post your election day coverage reactions here…

Debate Night: Your reactions…

Post your reactions to the tonight’s debate, and the coverage thereof, here…

VP Debate: Your Reactions…

Post your reactions to tonight’s debate, and the coverage thereof, here

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,176

From an emailer…

FBN and FNC video feeds from Denver went out around 8:20pm ET and it took about 10minuets for them to get the video feeds back.
FBN who had Neil Cavuto anchoring from The University of Denver went to David in the NYC studio and on FNC The O’Reilly Factor lost guest Kirsten Powers who is at The The University of Denver. On FNC the feed of the debate went out also.

Presidential Debate Coverage: Your Reactions…

Post your reactions to tonight’s debate and the coverage thereof here…

Strawmen of the World Unite!

I mentioned this on Twitter earlier but now I have the time to properly go to town on this. Real Clear Politics has a positively inane story, uncredited of course, that concerns the More magazine photoshoot.

MORE Magazine recently published a list of seven of America’s top female political journalists: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing, The New York Times’s Helene Cooper, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, CBS’s Norah O’Donnell, PBS’s Christina Bellantoni, the Washington Post’s Kathleen Parker, and Politico’s Maggie Haberman.

MORE’s list is conspicuously incomplete. Here are seven more of the country’s most prominent female political journalists who were absent from the magazine’s list.

Where to begin? Well…let’s start with what More actually wrote in their piece…

The seven newswomen on these pages are casting a eye on the candidates this election season. But scrutiny is a two-way street: even brilliant writers and reporters have to look good. Here, they wear fall’s best sheath dresses, pairing some style with their substance

See the disconnect? If you don’t, you are either blind and stupid or you work for Real Clear Politics.

More’s story wasn’t about “seven of the country’s most prominent female political journalists”. That’s what RCP characterized it. More merely called them seven newswomen who “are casting a (sic) eye on the candidates this election season”. RCP just ignored that and pivoted the story into something it never was. You gotta wonder if RCP even read what More wrote…

Jose Diaz-Balart to interview Mitt Romney…

Telemundo announced that it will air an interview with Joze Diaz-Balart and Mitt Romney on Sunday…

TELEMUNDO’S “ENFOQUE CON JOSÉ DÍAZ-BALART” PRESENTS AN INTERVIEW WITH GOVERNOR ROMNEY ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23 AT 12PM ET/PT, 11AM CT

Interview to Governor Romney is Part of a Series of Conversations with the Presidential Candidates that Started Last Week with an Interview with President Obama

Representative Xavier Becerra Will Offer a Rebuttal from the Democrat Party Perspective

MIAMI- September, 21 2012 – This Sunday, September 23, Telemundo’s “Enfoque con José Díaz-Balart” (12 p.m. ET/PT, 11 a.m. CT) will present an extended version of the first interview granted by Governor Romney to a Spanish-language network after accepting his nomination. During this interview, Governor Romney talks in detail about the unrest in the Middle East, the alleged turmoil in his campaign, the deferred action plan and US relations towards Mexico and Latin America, among other subjects of interest to the Hispanic community. The interview will be followed by a Democrat rebuttal by Representative Xavier Becerra from California’s 31st congressional district.

Jose Diaz-Balart to Interview President Obama

Telemundo announced that Jose Diaz-Balart will interview President Obama Thursday…

TELEMUNDO MEDIA LANDS FIRST EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW GRANTED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA TO A SPANISH LANGUAGE NETWORK AFTER ACCEPTING HIS NOMINATION

Conducted by Telemundo News Anchor José Díaz-Balart, the Interview Will Air on Thursday, September 13 on “Noticiero Telemundo” at 6:30 pm ET and on “Enfoque con José Díaz-Balart” this Sunday, September 16 at 12 p.m. ET

Miami –September 12, 2012- Telemundo Media will present the first exclusive interview granted by President Barack Obama to a Spanish-language network after formally accepting his nomination at the Democratic National Convention. Fifty four days before Election Day, President Obama will discuss with Telemundo News Anchor José Diaz-Balart the recent death of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya as well as other topics of interest to the Hispanic community including the economy, jobs, healthcare, education and immigration policy. This exclusive interview, conducted in Las Vegas, Nevada, also will incorporate questions asked by Telemundo viewers via social media. It will air on Thursday, September 13 on “Noticiero Telemundo” (6:30 pm ET/PT, 5:30 pm CT) and an extended version will appear on the network’s Sunday public affairs show “Enfoque con Jose Diaz-Balart” this Sunday, September 16 (12 p.m. ET/PT, 11 a.m. CT). President Obama responses will be translated to Spanish for broadcast and also be closed captioned in both, English and Spanish.

So you thought it was an expensive time consuming process building a new set for CNN?

…that ain’t nothing as the Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh writes…

It is the BBC’s most expensive development: the £1bn double-atrium newsroom, tucked away behind All Souls church at the north end of Regent Street in London, which by next March will house 6,000 staff over 11 floors.

The 93,000 square metre development may be just over four years late, and £55m over budget after a falling out with its original architect – but the replacement for the familiar Television Centre is finally coming on air.

Last Sunday, the New Broadcasting House, behind the famous art deco headquarters used by Lord Reith, broadcast its first network programme – The Andrew Marr Show – with a string of national TV and radio shows due to move between now and Christmas.

Democrat Convention Night Three: Your Reactions…

Post your reactions to tonight’s coverage here…while I wait by the phone for Verizon tech support to call about my beleaguered internet….

Democrat Convention Night Two: Your Reactions…

Post your reactions to tonight’s Democrat Convention coverage here, while I wait on hold for Verizon to address my flaky internet. Yup…I replaced the router but that isn’t the only thing wrong. I got DSL line noise…in fact I got voice line noise. My internet was down until just a few minutes ago in fact…