Outside Cable News

Via Thebatt
By: Kenny Ryan

Fox News to broadcast from MSC

For those who have always wanted to stand in the background of a national news broadcast and wave “hello” to mom, the chance has come. Fox News is filming a number of shows and segments on the Campus of Texas A&M Sunday through Tuesday.

News anchor Shepard Smith will be running the show with live election coverage Tuesday between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., with periodic updates as the night goes on. Smith will also air his usual programs, “Studio B” and “The Fox Report,” from the MSC flagroom Sunday and Monday between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.

“Whenever we have a chance to showcase students, faculty, and our campus to the entire country it’s a great opportunity we can’t pass up,” said Sherylon Carroll, A&M’s associate vice president of communications. “A&M is one of the most awesome universities in the world, and I’m sure that’s why Fox picked us as a location [and we are glad to have them.]”
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Via Variety
By JOHN DEMPSEY, SAM THIELMAN

Debates keep networks in Fox hunt
CNN, MSNBC thrive in recent news ratings

Like a heavyweight prizefight, Obama vs. Clinton has energized the American viewing public, funneling record numbers of viewers to CNN and MSNBC.

But when the Democrats finally settle on a nominee, will these advancing cable newsies be able to do anything about the 800-pound gorilla that is Fox News?

Bill Carroll, VP and director of programming for rep firm Katz TV, doesn’t think so. “It’s the personalities that count in cable news primetime,” he says. “When a big event like the presidential primary starts to taper off, viewers go back to the personalities.”

And Fox News has the consistently highest-rated news personalities in primetime with its lineup of Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Greta Van Susteren.

Of course, CNN and MSNBC would love to postpone getting stomped by Fox News. They’re no doubt hoping that Sen. Hillary Clinton does well enough on Tuesday in Ohio and Texas to stay in the race and keep millions of people riveted on her increasingly tense rivalry with Sen. Barack Obama.
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Via Tuscaloosa News
by Tommy Stevenson

Missed my 15 minutes

TUSCALOOSA | When some guy from Dan Abrams’ show on MSNBC called Thursday and wanted me to be on the program that night to talk about the case of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman, now serving federal prison time for bribery in what is looking more and more like a trumped-up, politically-motivated case, the chance to be on national teevee (albeit, the third-ranked basic cable news channel) sounded intriguing.

I’ve got plenty of thoughts on the case and have written extensively about it, mostly on this blog, while Abrams has done several pieces on the story in an on-going series he calls “Bush League Justice.”

But the more I talked to the booker from New York and as it developed that they wanted some informed opinion on the conduct of Federal Judge Mark Fuller in the case, I realized I was not the talking head for them. I did not cover the trial in Montgomery a year and a half ago and know only what I’ve read (most of it unflattering) about how Fuller handled the case and possible undisclosed conflicts of interest he may have had going into it.

I told the guy he would probably be better off getting a law professor or someone closer to the case than me to talk about Fuller and gave him the telephone number of the University of Alabama School of Law. By this time it was already approaching 4 p.m. (why a show that airs at 8 p.m. would wait so long in the day to begin lining up guests is beyond me) and I wished him well.
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Via Radar

Mogul A-Go-Go

Mogul Jeff Greene’s Hollywood Madam Connection

CNBC is drooling, drooling over its “first ever television interview” with real estate mogul Jeff Greene today. He’s about the only hedge funder to make out like a bandit in the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis. His $50 million investment is said to be worth $500 million now. (Full disclosure: we didn’t have time to independently verify that; an intern with a graphing calculator is on it.)

You know who also loves Greene? Heidi Fleiss. But you won’t hear about that in CNBC’s doting profile of the financial world’s new hotness. Greene, Fleiss says, once helped himself to a $30,000 chunk of a six-figure endorsement deal Fleiss was getting to hawk liquor in Australia. They were friends, having met right after Heidi got out of the pen in 1999. The former Hollywood madam crashed at his place for two years after Tom Sizemore smacked her around in 2003.

Read the rest here.

Via Crain’s
by Matthew Flamm

Fox News report in error

A story that ran this morning on the Crain’s Web site saying that Bill O’Reilly would anchor next Tuesday’s election coverage on Fox News was incorrect. Veteran news anchor Brit Hume will chair the coverage, according to an internal memo posted on Web site TV Newser this morning.

The Crain’s story was the result of a series of emailed tips that turned out to be incorrect.

Fox News spokespersons Irena Briganti and Brian Lewis did not respond to several phone calls and emails this week seeking comment on the possibility of Mr. O’Reilly’s new role.

Ms. Briganti did speak to TV Newser after the story appeared on its Web site, asserting that it was inaccurate and providing the memo.

Fox News suffered lackluster ratings in February, according to Nielsen Media Research, and fell behind rival CNN in prime time for the first time in six years. It has also been beaten in its primary coverage on some nights by distant third place news channel MSNBC.

Via Crain’s
By: Matthew Flamm

Fox News eyes O’Reilly for election night

Fox News is looking to spice up coverage of upcoming primaries by putting the popular conservative talker in the anchor seat.

The Fox News Channel, faced with tepid ratings in a red hot election season, may soon be taking a page from one of its competitors.

Sources within Fox News say the channel is planning to spice up its coverage of the Texas and Ohio primaries next Tuesday night by putting its popular conservative talker Bill O’Reilly in the anchor seat.

Brit Hume, widely regarded as the most seasoned journalist on the Fox News staff and the traditional anchor for the channel’s election coverage, would be relegated to a senior analyst role.

“They want to copy the success that MSNBC has had with [Keith] Olbermann and [Chris] Matthews anchoring their coverage,” says an insider.

NBC Universal’s MSNBC has been a distant third—behind CNN and longtime frontrunner Fox News—in the cable news landscape, but ratings, like the primaries, have taken some unusual turns in this election season.

>Update: It seems TVNewser has a different take on this from Irena Briganti. However, the article clearly states “Fox News spokespersons did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment.” So, perhaps they wanted Crain’s to run with this story and then shoot it down rather than responding initially?

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>Savannah Guthrie in for Mika Brzezinski… I haven’t watched much Morning Joe but like this combo a lot better.

Via NBCUNI Media Village

REVISED: MSNBC TO RE-AIR DEMOCRATIC DEBATE THIS WEEKEND

Debate Drew Best Viewership in MSNBC History; MSNBC was #1 Network on Television at 10 PM

Olbermann Tops O’Reilly at 8 PM

“Decision 2008: The Candidates” Series to Re-air Saturday

NOTE: DEBATE WILL NOW ALSO RE-AIR FRIDAY

NEW YORK – Feb. 28, 2008 – MSNBC will re-air the Democratic Candidates Debate Friday, 8-10 p.m. ET, Saturday, 8-10 p.m. ET and Sunday, 4-6 p.m. ET. The debate, followed by the analysis led by Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, propelled MSNBC into the #1 spot on television, broadcast or cable, Tuesday night (10-11 p.m.). MSNBC will also repeat its “Decision 2008: The Candidates” series on Saturday, featuring hour-long profiles of Sens. John McCain (4-5 p.m. ET), Hillary Clinton (5-6 p.m. ET) and Barack Obama (7-8 p.m. ET).
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Via Nieman Watchdog
by Carolyn Lewis Mug

Carolyn Lewis: “Your Money or Your Sanity: CNN’s Answer to Hard Times

Since the economy is the number one issue on everybody’s mind, I thought I’d take a look at an hour-long program called “Your Money” that CNN runs on Saturdays and repeats on Sundays. I was wondering how helpful the program might be to viewers plagued by mundane financial troubles like the threat of mortgage foreclosures, the credit card crunch, and the high cost of gas, heating oil, groceries, college tuition and health insurance.

On the day I looked in on them, hosts Ali Velshi and Stephanie Elam presided in the chirpy manner that I for one find unseemly when applied to sober topics. No matter what the serious subject on the table, they smiled a lot and spoke so fast that it was near impossible to catch the sense of what they were saying.

It soon became clear why they were in a hurry and why they were smiling. The hour was chock-a-block full of commercials, leaving hardly enough time to deal with the topics that were supposed to be the point of the show. Ostensibly dedicated to informing viewers about how to survive hard times, the hour was crammed with merchants urging already debt-ridden viewers to spend money they don’t have.

Read the rest here.

Via USA Today
By David Bauder, AP Television Writer

NBC: Bush kept off network to promote MSNBC

NEW YORK — NBC News said it was a desire to promote MSNBC as a news destination that led to its decision Thursday not to carry President Bush’s news conference on NBC.

The call to keep Bush off the broadcast network was noteworthy not just because ABC and CBS pre-empted regularly scheduled programming to cover the president, but because NBC was airing another news division program at the time — the fourth hour of Today.

“We’re trying to make MSNBC the place to go for NBC News, and the strategy is working,” said Phil Griffin, NBC News senior vice president.
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Via Poynter
By Jonathan Dube
CyberJournalist.net Publisher
ONA President

Behind CNN’s New Citizen Media Site
A YouTube for news

Most news organizations are looking for ways to tap their audiences for photos, videos and eyewitness reports. But many still struggle with how to embrace user-generated content while still ensuring accuracy and quality.

After a year-and-a-half of experience soliciting material from its audiences, CNN is embarking on a new approach worth observing.

Earlier this month, CNN launched a new site dedicated to user-generated content that is unmoderated — basically, a news version of YouTube. The site, currently in “beta” or test mode, can be viewed at iReport.com.
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Via B&C
By Marisa Guthrie

Jeff Zucker to Print Reporters: Drop Dead

NBC Universal CEO on MSNBC, NBC News, Fox Business Network, the Newspaper Industry and CNBC

The future of NBC News is not on the broadcast network, but at MSNBC and online, said Jeff Zucker, president of CEO of NBC Universal.
Jeff Zucker

“We are just living in an incredibly different world,” Zucker said during a question-and-answer session at Harvard Business School’s 2008 Entertainment and Media Conference Wednesday.

Pointing out that few people in the audience of students, faculty and media gathered there likely watch the 6:30 p.m. newscast, Zucker said NBC News is lucky to have a cable-news outlet in MSNBC, adding that more and more content will continue to migrate there and to MSNBC.com.

Read the rest here.

Via Broadcasting & Cable
By John Eggerton

CNN’s John Roberts will moderate the media-star-studded Radio-Television News Directors Foundation First Amendment Dinner in Washington, D.C., March 6.

ABC News president David Westin, NBC Universal president Jeff Zucker and PBS’ Jim Lehrer will also be on hand as the foundation hands out awards for standing up for freedom of the press.

Among the recipients are CBS’ Bob Schieffer, who will receive the Leonard Zeidenberg Award (named after the former B&C correspondent); AP president Tom Curley (First Amendment Leadership Award); NBC diversity executive Paula Madison (Service Award); and Richard Wiley, former Federal Communications Commission chairman and partner in Wiley, Rein & Fielding, who is getting a special award.

There will also be a performance by Schieffer and his country-music band, Honky Tonk Confidential.

Via Jossip

Maria Bartiromo Has Done More Than Boost CNBC Ratings

Maria Bartiromo is more than just a pretty face who takes ethically questionable rides on corporate jets. In fact, some argue that her role at CNBC has changed the way analyst information is disseminated, which might actually be making for smarter individual investors. Also, her hot lips make for easier listening to this crap.

Read the rest here.

>As most of you are aware, CNN decided to put “Financial Security Watch” in the place of Your World Today. And as you can see below, FNC was basically simulcasting their sister network Sky while CNN talked about something else entirely. Now, which news is more important?

Update: I forgot to look at HLN & MSNBC, so giving a comparison of what they were showing minutes later really wouldn’t be fair, IMO.

Via Streaming Media.com
by Geoff Daily

The Watchman: MSNBC Makes Mess of Democratic Debate Webcast

MSNBC botched their delivery of Tuesday night’s Clinton-Obama debate in more ways than one. In the first installment of this new column, Geoff Daily evaluates what MSNBC did wrong, and what a local affiliate in Ohio did right.

Regardless of format or bitrate, ad type or placement, live or on-demand, streaming or download, in the end the final measure of success for online video is the experience it enables users to have while watching.

The Watchman is a column about just that topic, giving first person insight into how the decisions content owners make regarding the presentation of their streaming media impacts the quality of this user’s experiences watching online video and how they ultimately increase/decrease my willingness/ability to keep watching.

My name is Geoff Daily. I’ve been a contributing editor for StreamingMedia.com for the past three years writing about the business of online video, and now I’ll be sharing with you the chronicles of my journey into a world where the only video I watch is that which has been delivered over the internet.

Last night I had my first moment of regret over having recently canceled my cable service in order to rely solely on Internet video.

I was eagerly anticipating tuning in to what was likely the last presidential primary debate between the Democratic frontrunners. I had done the same for last week’s debate on CNN.com and had a great experience watching live video for over an hour. This week did not deliver on that promise.
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Via Beacon Journal
By Jim Carney

Broadcaster Allen Saunders dead at 84

Veteran of Akron radio the first voice of CNN when cable network went on the air in 1980

Allen Saunders was the first voice of CNN.

Born Alvin L. Steinwedel but known professionally as Allen ‘’Al'’ Saunders, he was a well-known fixture in Akron radio for nearly two decades.

His rich, deep voice was used for CNN identifications and promos when the all-news cable network was founded in 1980.

Mr. Steinwedel, 84, died Tuesday at Akron City Hospital following a brief illness.

A native of Baltimore, Md., he came to Akron in 1961 as vice president and general manager at WHLO Radio and Susquehanna Broadcasting.

Read the rest here. (2 pages)

>Now, where are the people saying news networks never report anything “good” out of Iraq?

Via Real Clear Politics
By David Paul Kuhn

White Men Seen All Wrong

>Excerpt, click here for the rest.

In effect, the largest swing vote in this race has been talked about the least. Representation is not conversation. Simply because white men are talking on television doesn’t mean white men are being discussed. A Nexis search of the past two months of news transcripts from CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News showed Hispanics or Latinos came up 851 times in the context of the names of Clinton and Obama. In that same context and time span, white male or white men came up 127 times.

Via South Bend Tribune
by JEFFREY M. McCALL

Diet of TV news is bad for country’s democratic health
MICHIANA POINT OF VIEW

>Excerpt, click here for all of it.

The Center for Media and Public Affairs analyzed 481 election stories aired October through December on the evening news shows of the big three networks and Fox News Channel. The CMPA study showed that more stories were aired about the candidates’ campaign strategies than about candidate policy positions. More than a third of all stories focused on polling and the horse-race angle of the campaign.

Via 13WHAM

J-Mac on Larry King

(Rochester, N.Y.) — Rochester’s own basketball phenom Jason “J-Mac” McElwain has met President Bush and other celebrities. On Wednesday night, he appeared on television with the king of talk.

J-Mac, 20, who has autism, talked about his new book “The Game of My Life” on CNN’s Larry King Live.

He appeared with his mom and some celebrity parents who have child with autism, including former Buffalo Bills quarterback Doug Flutie and actress Holly Robinson Peete.

Peete said J-Mac is a hero to her young son.
“I just I can’t speak highly enough what Jason represents to people with autism, and for children with autism…” she said. “He really gave [my son] a lot of inspiration.”

A movie based on the book is also in the works.

McElwain scored 20 points in four minutes during a Greece Athena High School basketball game in February 2006.

Via The Swamp
by Jim Oliphant

Feed your hunger: Count the delegates

Dev Null is counting delegates and waiting for another shot at prime-time.

Admit it, American public, you’re obsessed. The item below about the ratings that MSNBC enjoyed with last night’s Democratic debate in Cleveland proves it. No one’s watched MSNBC like that since Soledad O’Brien did the news with a cartoon barista. (His name was Dev Null and he is pictured above. This is probably no longer listed on O’Brien’s resume.)

Now, the good people at Slate have unveiled a tool you can use to explore all the possible scenarios in which Hillary Clinton could overtake Barack Obama and secure the nomination. Feel free to post your theories here — conspiracy and otherwise. (There’s always that obscure Guam-North Carolina scenario, which sounds a bit like a first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament.)

Believe us, the Clinton campaign is doing a version of this every hour of the day. You might as well try it too.

Via CJR

It’s The Man Show — on MSNBC!
Stick to your knitting, ladies
By Liz Cox Barrett

Watching MSNBC this morning I was reminded of a cop-out line from one of Maureen Dowd’s recent harshing-on-Hillary New York Times columns (headline: “A Flawed Feminist Test”):

“But Hillary is not the best test case for women. We’ll never know how much of the backlash is because she’s a woman or because she’s this woman…”

How many bigoted assertions can you safely stash behind the “it’s not women, it’s this woman” cover? Quite a lot, if MoDo’s columns are any measure.

But to hear the talking heads of MSNBC this morning, it could be that for some people it is, actually, women. Or, at least, that their feelings about this woman can’t really be untangled from their feelings about women in politics, generally.
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>After the jump it says, “Fox News Channel got 160,000 text messages after a recent presidential debate, which is one of the preferred methods of communication by young people.”

Via The Courier-Journal
by Tom Dorsey

Cable hopes election coverage lures young viewers

This presidential election year may be historically different, and I’m not just talking about a woman or black man running for the job.

Voting results from the big Super Tuesday primaries earlier this month showed turnout among people under 30 quadrupled in Tennessee and doubled the usual averages in Massachusetts, Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma, according to The New York Times.

Meanwhile, the number of viewers on cable news and broadcast networks skyrocketed that night. CNN, which has maintained a full-court press for months covering the candidates, has been rewarded with big ratings in prime time with huge increases in viewers under 50.
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Via NBCUNI Media Village

MSNBC’S TELECAST OF DEMOCRATIC DEBATE MOST WATCHED PROGRAM IN NETWORK HISTORY

7.8 Million Viewers Watch MSNBC’s Debate Between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama on the Eve of the Ohio and Texas Primaries

MSNBC’s Debate Coverage Second Only to “Idol” in Total Viewers

NEW YORK – Feb. 27, 2008 – MSNBC’s telecast of last night’s Democratic candidates debate drew 7.8 million viewers (9-10:36 p.m. ET), becoming the most watched broadcast in the eleven year history of the network, according to Nielsen Media Research. The debate, between Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, was moderated by “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, joined by “Meet the Press” moderator and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert. It is the third most watched debate this season and the second most watched on cable.
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Via Silicon Alley Insider

CNNMoney.com: We’re Gunning For CNBC, Fox Biz
by Michael Learmonth

Vivek Shah, president and publisher of CNNMoney.com, told the MPA conference this morning that he sees his site as a competitor for workplace eyeballs currently trained on CNBC’s and Fox Biz’ cable channels.

Ambitious goal. How can he make it happen? Shah’s pitch: There are 80 million broadband-connected computers in the workplace, where most folks watch financial news networks. But there are only 4 million cable-connected TVs. If CNNMoney.com can stream enough compelling video, Shah argues, he can snatch some of the cable guys’ audience.
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Via The Earth Times

Kiptronic Partners With Fox News Radio to Monetize Media Assets

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — 02/27/08 — Kiptronic, the leader in dynamic ad insertion for video and audio content distributed using the Internet, today announced that it has partnered with Fox News Radio to provide dynamic ad insertion and media management services for its audio content.

Kiptronic’s Media Services Platform and OpsCenter management tools will be utilized by Fox News Radio across its popular series of audio programming, from the Fox News Radio Newscast to The Radio Factor with Bill O’Reilly and the Alan Colmes Radio Show.
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