ICN hears that with the program debuts for Ratigan and Snyderman the 2pm ET slot starting Monday will be anchored chiefly by Contessa Brewer. The hour will continue as before with Brewer occasionally being paired up with other anchors such as for the “It’s the Economy” CNBC tie in with Melissa Francis. The New York Times Edition with CNBC’s John Harwood will continue to air once a week during that hour but I don’t know whether Harwood will be paired with Brewer or with Norah O’Donnell. O’Donnell will continue as MSNBC’s Chief Washington Correspondent and will fill in occasionally on the network.
Archive for June 26, 2009
Burnt to a Cinder…
Posted in CNBC on June 26, 2009 by icn2CJR Daily’s Ryan Chittum torches…nay burns Maria Bartiromo rotten…to a cinder crisp…for an interview she did with Larry Summers that I must admit looks pretty bad. To be fair though, Chittum’s criticism stems from the Business Week version of a longer CNBC interview, which was edited down presumably by Business Week.
Bartiromo, whose day job, of course, is on CNBC (which explains a lot), leads off with a perfectly dumb question:
What impact would the proposed regulatory reforms have on banks and investment banks?
You’ll be shocked to know that Summers somehow was able to muddle through his answer to that one.
But you know, sometimes you’ve got to serve up the softballs early to get your subject to warm up a bit. So question No. 2:
How is this different from what the Fed has been doing for 70 years?
Kind of a weird follow-up, but maybe No. 3 will brush him back a bit:
Since most of these institutions are global, do you need an overseer in step with other economies?
What’s he going to say? “No”? A better question might have been: Do you need an international overseer to coordinate global finance rules? That might actually get an interesting thought out.
MSNBC.com: Tops?
Posted in MSNBC on June 26, 2009 by icn2The Wall Street Journal’s David B. Wilkerson writes about MSNBC.com…
MSNBC.com has managed to score a top ranking among major news Web sites, which its general manager credits to the site’s devotion to video and key partnerships across the media spectrum.
During the 12-month period June 2008 and May 2009, MSNBC.com had the most unique visitors among current news and global events Web sites, according to Nielsen Online, topping Yahoo! (YHOO) News, CNN Digital Network, which is owned by Time-Warner (TWX), and FoxNews.com, which is owned by News Corp (NWSA), publisher of this newswire.
MSNBC.com, co-owned by Microsoft (MSFT) and NBC Universal (GE), has been helped by a ratings surge at the MSNBC cable network in the last year, which has been fueled by “Countdown” and “The Rachel Maddow Show.” MSNBC.com General Manager Charlie Tillinghast is quick to point out that there’s more to the equation, however.
“We’re also the main news site for MSN, and we have key partnerships with Newsweek, the New York Times, and parts of the business news space,” Tillinghast said in an interview. “We are the news site for all of NBC News. That’s the difference between us and CNN. CNN is a Web counterpart to its on-air product. MSNBC cable’s online component is just a subset of what’s available at MSNBC.com.”
A New Ratings Metric?
Posted in CNN, FNC on June 26, 2009 by icn2Daily Finance’s Jeff Bercovici looks at a new Nielsen metric; “Fusion”…
“We used to be a television business,” says Jack Wakshlag, head of research for Turner Broadcasting. “We see our future in terms of being a multi-platform media company. Now we need a metric that will measure our power or our presence across the different platforms.”
As it happens, Nielsen, the ratings firm, recently started tracking such a metric. It’s called Nielsen Fusion, and it combines viewership and online usage data. The Fusion rankings for April show CNN with a commanding lead over both MSNBC and Fox News when it comes to reach among all viewers. (That’s looking at the full day, not just primetime.) CNN reached 125.3 million people in April, versus 105.5 milllion for MSNBC and 104.3 million for Fox.
That’s not really a surprise. CNN has always beaten Fox and MSNBC in reach, or cumulative audience. (Fox and MSNBC counter that advertisers make their buys based on ratings, not cumulative reach, which doesn’t reflect duration of viewership.) And CNN and MSNBC both have a big head start on Fox when it comes to web traffic; the Fox News Digital Network attracts fewer than half the unique visitors of the MSNBC or CNN digital networks (No. 1 and 3 among all news sites, respectively).
Bercovici also has some very pointed FNC rebuttal…
“Apparently the sheer embarrassment of getting beat by both Headline News and MSNBC along with the continued implosion of Campbell Brown and Anderson Cooper has led CNN to its latest act of desperation,” says a Fox News spokesman. “We wish Jack well in continuing to defend their battle for fourth place.”
Interesting that the timing of this article comes near the end of June…and the June ratings period. Does this foreshadow another CNN non 2nd place finish in the ratings?
Free for All: 06/27/09
Posted in Free For All on June 26, 2009 by icn2What’s on your mind? On my mind is the (already) over coverage of Michael Jackson. Did Sinatra’s death generate this level of coverage? Sinatra arguably had a bigger impact on music and society during his long career than Jackson did. I think coverage of Elvis’ or Lennon’s deaths, had they died in the 24 hour news cycle we now live in, would have probably been as heavy handed.
Update: BTW, if you’re coming here to hear the latest programming and schedule changes and talent deployment for Michael Jackson, you’ve most definitely come to the wrong place. I’m staying as far away from this as is humanly possible. I managed to boycott the trial of OJ and I’m going to boycott Jackson’s death, autopsy, funeral, court cases, and any and all testimonials/specials/etc…that the nets will inflict upon us.
Gregory vs. Scarborough…
Posted in MSNBC on June 26, 2009 by icn2MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was all set to appear this Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos until yesterday, when Scarborough canceled because David Gregory, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” allegedly threw a fit.
“What is David Gregory so afraid of?” asked one network insider.
Stephanopoulos was first pitched to have Scarborough as a guest by Scarborough’s “Morning Joe” co-host on MSNBC, Mika Brzezinski.
“About three weeks ago, George got a handwritten note in the mail and a copy of Scarborough’s book, ‘The Last Best Hope,’ ” said our source. “The note said, ‘Would you consider putting Joe on your show?’ ”
Last week, the booking was finalized. “She [Brzezinski] said she checked with all the high-ups at NBC,” said our source.
But on Wednesday night, Stephanopoulos was alerted there might be a problem. Scarborough is said to have informed him, “I’m terribly sorry, but David Gregory had a fit.” Yesterday morning, Scarborough canceled his appearance, leaving Stephanopoulos scrambling to find a replacement guest.
Inside Cable News 