Outside Cable News

By JILLIAN J. GOODMAN
Crimson Staff Writer

How would you feel if Bob Woodward called your book “a remarkable achievement?”

“Fabulous,” says Jeffrey R. Toobin ’82, whose latest book, “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court,” received just that accolade from just that person.

Woodward’s 1979 book “The Brethren” gave America its first behind-the-bench look at the Supreme Court, and “The Nine” seems poised to join it as a courtroom classic. Toobin’s book has been on the New York Times best seller list for 17 weeks, and at the end of 2007, everyone from the Times to Time had “The Nine” as one of its ten best books of the year.

And guess where all of that success brings him? Right back to Harvard.

“The irony is that I sort of live my life like a first year law student; I get to skim off the interesting issues,” the 1986 Harvard Law School (HLS) graduate says. “I don’t have to deal with whatever boring project a client takes in. I have the luxury of only dealing with subjects that engage people.”

In person, Toobin seems more like a student than the prominent legal mind that he is. During our interview, he swiveled his chair with the restless energy of a 20-something and laughed away his wife’s suggestion that he get a Blackberry.

But his youthful demeanor belies his accomplished resume: an editor of the Harvard Law Review, an associate counsel on the Oliver North/Iran-Contra trial, and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney—all by age 32.

>This is an excerpt, click here for the complete version.

>This is just an excerpt of an interesting read on Business Week.

Diffuse power begets confusion. Companies led by one guy get things done

This touches on the fundamental media conglomerate problem: There are too many layers. There are too many fiefdoms. There are too many…guys. Guys strolling the corridors, guys clustering around the boardroom, guys slowing things down. (The litany of executives that follows shows they’re, still, almost exclusively guys.) This, in a time of great uncertainty and fast-shifting consumer appetites, when sheer speed may determine which companies successfully molt and which simply melt.

I was chewing this over with a dealmaker pal and, inevitably, the alacrity and decisiveness with which News Corp. (NWS) makes its moves came up. Said pal had a two-word explanation: "One guy."

Meaning, at News Corp., Rupert Murdoch is the one guy who sets the parameters, who makes the decisions, and whose sensibility is stamped onto the brains of underlings. A producer on, say, Fox News, for good or ill, thinks about what Murdoch wants out of the programming a hell of a lot more than a producer for Time Warner’s CNN thinks about Bewkes. 

Read all of it 

>Thanks to Jerziegrl for the heads up and of course TVNewser for posting about the presser. Although I’m more interested in how Campbell does and what people think of her performance after it actually happens.

Campbell Brown to Moderate Democratic Presidential Debate in Texas Univision’s Jorge Ramos, CNN’s John King to Serve as Panelists for Thursday, Feb. 21, Debate
 
CNN today announced that Campbell Brown will anchor the Thursday, Feb. 21, Democratic presidential debate sponsored by CNN, Univision Communications Inc. and the Texas Democratic Party and presented by the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation on behalf of the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the LBJ Library. CNN chief national correspondent John King and award-winning Univision anchor Jorge Ramos will serve as panelists asking questions of the candidates during the debate.

Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have accepted invitations to the debate. The program will air live from the University of Texas on CNN and on CNN International from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (ET)/7p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (CT) and will air in Spanish at 11:30 p.m. (ET)/10:30 p.m. (CT) on the Univision Network, on Univision.com and on RadioCadena, Univision’s AM radio network. The debate will stream live on CNN.com and will later be available on demand on both Univision.com and CNN.com. It will also re-air on CNN and CNN en Español.

Full release is here

Via Multichannel News 

‘Daily Show’ Host To Appear on CNN Talker
By Linda Moss

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart will dish about his hosting of the upcoming 80th annual Academy Awards and the recent TV writers’ strike on CNN’s Larry King Live Wednesday, officials said Friday.

Daily Show host Stewart, appearing Feb. 20 in a rare one-hour interview, will discuss his thoughts on the dramatic presidential race.

With the recent settlement of the writers’ strike, he’ll talk about how it affected his show and planning for the Oscars. Stewart will also take live viewer calls and e-mails.

Larry King Live airs nightly from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.

This is an open thread, feel free to discuss anything you want.

I suppose Gretchen worked this morning too?  

By Samantha Fields
GateHouse News Service
 
Even as a sophomore in high school, Aneesh Raman seemed destined for big things. By the age of 15, he had already begun dabbling in broadcasting.

“I get such a rush,” he said in a 1994 interview after being recognized by his hometown Wellesley newspaper. “Working on a deadline, then getting ready and then the lights go on and you’re on. All eyes on you. There’s nothing like it. It’s always hustling. Always something new. It’s never mundane.”

Now 28, Raman (whose family name is Venkataraman) is CNN’s Middle East correspondent in Cairo. He has covered the war in Iraq, the trial of Saddam Hussein, the coronation of a Cambodian king and the tsunami in southern Thailand. He has lived in Bangkok, Baghdad and Cairo, and has spent more time reporting from inside Iran than any other American journalist in recent years.

“I never wanted to live abroad,” said Raman, in a telephone interview from his Egypt office. “It just sort of happened.”

Read the rest at Metrowest Daily News 

Why CNBC threw Barron’s off its air
By Dean Starkman

Last summer, Barron’s published a tough story last summer on Jim Cramer, concluding that the manic and popular star of CNBC’s Mad Money program did not, for all his bluster to the contrary, beat the broader market with his stock picks.

While the story didn’t make much of a splash at the time, it sparked a quiet but surprisingly fierce feud between the two business-news organizations, one that seems out of proportion to the story that caused it. Within days of publication, for instance, CNBC officials told Barron’s reporters who had appeared as on-air guests for years that their presence was no longer desired.

Read More at CJR

Nationally renowned financial advisor, author and radio show host, Ray Lucia has been added as a guest panelist on the FOX Business Network and will be appearing every Monday from 2 PM to 4 PM (EST) beginning on February 4, 2008.

Ray will be providing commentary on current financial and economic issues on the FOX Business program hosted by anchors David Asman and Liz Claman. The program features a panel of guest commentators who provide feedback and their viewpoint on current market trends and the impact to individuals and businesses.
 
Link

>Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman has an opinion. But, don’t take my selected quote for it, click on through and read the whole thing.

Desperately in need of leadership

These expressions of contrition seem to occur only after MSNBC has been publicly flogged and needed to repair its image, and they sound (to me) disingenuous and self-serving.

What MSNBC does badly need is a boost. How about a catchy slogan to differentiate itself from rivals Fox News and Time Warner’s CNN? (News Corp owns both Fox News Channel and MarketWatch, which publishes this column.)

Voila! MSNBC could start promoting itself as the "We’re sorry" network. To keep up the momentum, it should next apologize to its parent company, General Electric, for its lousy ratings, boorish newsmen and all-around irrelevance.

The network also needs some discipline in its ranks. It could use a top executive with strong ethics and news sense, someone who will take no nonsense from the network’s loose cannons and will forcefully remind these "journalists" that their obligation is to inform the public, not to audition material for a guest spot on "Saturday Night Live’s" Weekend Update.

Link