Outside Cable News

Sorry I forgot about the open thread today!

>I received a tip about this via email. So, I skimmed the hour and tried to find it. Ah, I missed the other part. So, you’ll find part 2 after the jump, also notice how Scarborough is missing at the end.

>Update: Check out Inside Cable News for a write up about it.
>Update: MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines to Huffington Post:

“Joe didn’t walk off. He chose not to participate in the final couple of minutes of the discussion because he felt the conversation didn’t fit his role as a political analyst.”

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Via News-Leader
It’s not your mother’s TV news
By Peggy Stanton, For the News-Leader
Talk about hypocrisy.

And there has been a lot of talk about it. The chattering classes have cluttered the airwaves with a great deal of cluck-clucking about the hypocrisy of the former New York governor and crime fighter indulging in the very crime he claimed to pursue.

A lissome lady news anchor with a a descending neckline nearly colliding with an ascending hemline decried the fact that a 22-year-old call girl was marketing sex. One had to wonder what did this minimally dressed news anchor think she was peddling?

Too much of television news has gone Holly-wood. In a recent interview, the former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, accused a CNN reporter of being in the entertainment business rather than the news business. Who is responsible for the transformation - TV bosses seeking ratings or newswomen who have allowed themselves to look more like hirelings searching for a client at the Mayflower Hotel than a lady researching a breaking news story? There are, of course, many exceptions as in Ann Curry of NBC and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, both fine newswomen who never seem to feel the need to emphasize their allure over their purpose.

It is painful to criticize a profession in which I was one of the earliest female members, but the alleged downward spiral of TV news is something worthy of examination. Cable news, in general, resembles a Steven Spielberg spectacular more than an Edward R. Murrow production. Sets flash lights. Headlines zoom in and out. Dark voices in ominous tones preview doomsday stories to come. The only relief from all this drama comes in continuous commercials.
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Via WOUB
WOUB Newsroom to be dedicated in Ailes’ honor

The Roger E. Ailes Newsroom in the Scripps College of Communication will be dedicated at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22. Located on the third floor of the Radio-Television Communication Building, the newsroom will be named in honor of FOX News Chairman and CEO Roger E. Ailes, a 1962 graduate of Ohio University whose contribution made it possible.
“It is my honor to announce that the newsroom will bear Roger’s name as it benefits Scripps College of Communication students, faculty and staff for generations to come,” Dean Greg Shepherd said. “Roger is an extraordinarily accomplished alumnus of and champion for the Scripps College of Communication, and we are grateful for his continuing generosity and support of our students and programs.”

Now fully functional, the newsroom is used primarily by Scripps College of Communication students and staff who produce the “Athens MidDay” and “Newswatch” live daily newscasts. In addition, the space is used for WOUB’s radio news programs; “Gridiron Glory,” WOUB’s student-produced football show; and “Bobcat Blitz,” the Ohio University football coaches’ show that airs statewide.

Since 1994, Ailes has provided scholarships for Athens campus students enrolled in the Scripps College and working for campus telecommunication organizations such as the public broadcasting stations of WOUB and the All Campus Radio Network.
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Via Fox Business
Small Potatoes and a White House Dinner
By Alexis Glick

If you had an opportunity to watch the show this morning, you may have heard me mention that I came down to Washington, D.C. last night for Radio and Television Correspondents Association. It occurs once a year at the Washington Hilton where a 1,000 people, predominantly journalists, convene to give out awards to colleagues and watch the president, vice president or senior cabinet members roast themselves with the media present. It’s a fun night! Everyone lets their hair down and for a brief moment forget that they’re seated next to the competition.

All of the heavy hitters show up! The security line to enter the ballroom is long and severe. Many Senators, Congressmen and women, Executives both from television and the Corporate World and celebrities attend this dinner. Everywhere you look there’s another famous face. It’s great people watching :)

>Read the rest at Fox Business.

Via Emirates Business
CNBC’s ‘Money Honey’ in growth hotspot
By Mustafa Alrawi and Frank Kane

When Maria Bartiromo, arguably the world’s most famous financial journalist, flies half way around the world to interview leading business players in the Gulf it must mean that the region is topping the global news agenda.

“Today globalisation is the story of the moment. The world really is smaller,” Bartiromo said while visiting the Dubai International Financial Centre. “We are in the Middle East right now and we are talking not about war but economic expansion. Globalisation of companies, economies and business is bringing people together.”

Nicknamed the “Money Honey” and the “Econo Babe” during the boom years of the stock market in the late 1990s and early noughties due to her striking looks, Bartiromo has been in Dubai, Doha and Qatar this past week interviewing the likes of DIFC Governor Dr Omar bin Sulaiman and Etihad airline’s CEO James Hogan.

Bartiromo normally mixes in such elite company, flying on private jets with CEOs and sharing sensitive information with central bankers, reporting from the New York stock exchange floor and hosting panels at the World Economic Forum in Davos – she is the face of CNBC, which broadcasts to 390 million people worldwide.

But has the intense attention over her looks as well as her in-depth knowledge diminished her appetite to chase answers to the more difficult questions?
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Via CNN.com
Behind the Scenes: Thrilling day covering the pope
By Ed Henry

In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry, who describes himself as “not a perfect Catholic,” describes covering Pope Benedict XVI’s Mass.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Covering the White House is a thrill for a political junkie like me, but nothing prepared me for the euphoria of reporting on Pope Benedict XVI’s Mass at Nationals Park for about 46,000 worshippers here on Thursday.

I woke up at 2:45 a.m. in order to drive to a downtown hotel to catch a 4:30 a.m. bus with other journalists to the ballpark in time to make it through the massive security and get prepared to do live shots for all of CNN’s platforms. It was still dark outside when I arrived but the sky was lit up by an incredibly large moon glowing over the ballpark — a baseball cathedral transformed into a church thanks to a 50-by-50-foot altar in centerfield.

By 6 a.m., worshippers were already starting to trickle in. There were even 100 priests here to hear confessions from the early risers, part of a total of 1,300 priests, 250 bishops and 14 cardinals attending Mass.

Part of my excitement came from the fact that I am Catholic — not a perfect Catholic, but someone who tries to take my faith seriously and is still thankful to my parents for sending me to a Catholic high school that I am convinced put me on a path to the profession I love so much today.
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Via Jewish Ledger
Conversation with…Mickey Sherman
By Judie Jacobson

GREENWICH - One of the nation’s top criminal defense attorney, Mickey Sherman, is a frequent guest expert on Court TV, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN, as well as a CBS-TV Legal Analyst. He has also attracted media attention for his innovative trial techniques and his high- profile clients, including Kennedy nephew Michael Skakel, who was accused and ultimately convicted of murdering a 15-year old neighbor. In his new book “How Can You Defend Those People” (Lyons Press, April 2008), Sherman speaks out about the realities and satisfaction of defending people accused of serious crimes, regardless of whether they’re innocent or guilty.

Sherman maintains a private practice in Greenwich, which is where he grew up - “I was one of the first boys bar mitzvahed there,” he claims. Today, he lives with his wife, Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl, in Larchmont, N.Y.
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Via The Miami Hurricane
CNN anchor shares experience
Anderson Cooper speaks at convocation
By Anthony Minerva

He has hosted presidential debates, won praise for coverage of Hurricane Katrina and traveled to more than 50 countries, and on Monday night CNN anchor Anderson Cooper made a special visit to the University of Miami for Senior Convocation 2008.

About 2,000 students and other guests attended “A 360-Degree Look at World Events,” hosted at the BankUnited Center and sponsored by Northern Trust Bank.

Cooper was welcomed by Sheldon Anderson, president of the Miami-Dade County Northern Trust Bank, and President Donna E. Shalala, as a “media rock star” and a “storyteller of the 21st century.”

“Anderson takes his obligations as a journalist seriously,” Shalala said. “He asks hard questions, and gives honest answers.”

Cooper, 40, kept the lecture lighthearted and conversational for the most part while discussing his beginnings, his hardships and his memorable stories. He said that he was always supported by his mother, famed actress, artist and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, whom he described as “remarkable,” but “not practical.”

“When I asked my mom for advice [before an interview] she told me to wear vertical stripes because they were slimming,” Cooper joked.
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Via Lincoln Tribune
Opinion : A Culture of Corruption: The News Media
By Jim Kouri

During a segment of Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor, former CBS TV newsman now media critic, Bernard Goldberg, stated clearly and consisely, “The news media are corrupt.” His fellow guest Jane Hall, formerly of the L.A. Times and now a respected journalism professor concurred.

They were lamenting the fact that by and large the members of the Fourth Estate were in the bag for Democrat president candidate Senator Barack Obama. In fact, it’s almost sickening how the denizens of America’s newsrooms go out of their way not to cover stories that would be covered if Obama were a conservative Republican.

The other day, a news anchor I’ve respected for years, Fox News Channel’s Brit Hume, said that newspeople didn’t know a lot about Sen. Barack Obama but slowly he’s beginning to reveal himself. Hume gave the example of his “bitterness” comments while Obama was kissing up to the moonbats in San Francisco. Hume — and some others — said such statements showed that Obama may actually be an “elitist.” No. You think?
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>Instead of saying something snarky… I’ll just let the pictures do the talking…

Via AP
China snubs CNN apology over Cafferty remarks
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday snubbed an apology from CNN over remarks by one of its commentators as a wave of verbal assaults on foreign media raised concerns over coverage at this summer’s Beijing Olympics.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu rejected CNN’s explanation that commentator Jack Cafferty was referring to China’s leaders — not the Chinese people — when he described them as “goons and thugs.” CNN said it apologized to anyone who thought otherwise.

But Jiang said at a regularly scheduled news conference that the CNN statement lacked sincerity and instead “turned its attack on the Chinese government to try to sow division between the Chinese government and the people.”

The head of the ministry’s information department summoned CNN’s bureau chief in Beijing on Wednesday night to deliver a near identical protest.
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Via Media-Newswire
Best-selling author, CNN legal analyst to visit University Park

University Park, Pa. - Jeffrey Toobin, author of “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court,” will visit Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, University Park, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, in 112 Kern Building. The event, which is free to the public, will be teleconferenced to 254 Advantica Building in Carlisle. A reception and book signing will follow.

(Media-Newswire.com) - University Park, Pa. — Jeffrey Toobin, author of “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court,” will visit Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, University Park, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, in 112 Kern Building. The event, which is free to the public, will be teleconferenced to 254 Advantica Building in Carlisle. A reception and book signing will follow.

A legal analyst for CNN, Toobin has written about numerous pivotal legal events of our time. His most recent book, “The Nine,” explores the state of the U.S. Supreme Court in the wake of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s departure and the “conservative counterrevolution” in the United States.

“We are very excited about Mr. Toobin’s visit,” said Penn State Dickinson Professor Kit Kinports, who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun. “He has written a terrific book that really lives up to its title. Not only does he give the reader an inside view of the Supreme Court, but he does so in a very accessible and entertaining way.”
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