Outside Cable News

Via AJC
By KRISTI E. SWARTZ
Tight political race fuels CNN’s ratings boost
But analysts ask: What will network do when election is over?

Take three election-centric TV programs, sprinkle in a little of the Barack Obama phenomenon and add a gee-whiz-worthy high-tech map, and you have a recipe that has cooked up favorable results for CNN.

Even before there were side-switching superdelegates, a fuzzy Bosnia-sniper story and “bittergate,” CNN had decided to make the 2008 election its top priority. But the Atlanta-based news network hadn’t banked on a still-tight Democratic race that could stretch until the party’s August convention.

In March, two months after network executives had expected viewer interest in the primaries to subside, CNN averaged 444,000 viewers during the prime-time slot — 8 to 11 p.m. — for the key 25-54 age demographic. It was an 87 percent jump from the previous year and the first time CNN had captured the No. 1 spot for that age group since 2001 — a rare victory over archrival Fox News Channel.

The question, media analysts ask, is how will CNN hold up when the political news dies down?

“What happens when the election is over? Is the coach going to turn into a pumpkin again?” asked Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Washington-based Project for Excellence in Journalism.

CNN’s 2004 election coverage created the framework for the network’s approach to 2008, said David Bohrman, a senior vice president for CNN and executive producer of CNN’s primary coverage.
(more…)

Via NY Times
By JACQUES STEINBERG
CNN’s Election Night Interpreter Revels in a High-Tech Toy

With the stroke of a finger, John King has been able to traverse hundreds of miles across states on big primary nights, zooming in and out of towns and cities on an enormous touch map to collect and display the latest results for CNN this campaign season.

As CNN’s ratings have surged this election year — in February its prime-time viewership rose 15 percent compared with that month a year ago, according to Nielsen Media Research — the profile of Mr. King and his electronic sidekick has risen as well.

While this is hardly Mr. King’s first high-visibility assignment — he has covered the Clinton and Bush White Houses, as well as the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina for CNN — the seemingly never-ending Democratic race has probably cemented his status as a prime-time cable television star.

“He’s a tenacious, terrific reporter,” Tim Russert, the host of MSNBC’s “Meet the Press,” said in a telephone interview last week. When asked if he regarded Mr. King, 44, as part of a farm team made up of those who might someday take the helm of a Sunday public affairs show like his, Mr. Russert said, “I think he is certainly on that track.” And lest there be any doubt that Mr. Russert is watching, he noted that “John substituted for Wolf yesterday,” a reference to Wolf Blitzer and his late afternoon show, “The Situation Room.”
(more…)

Via Variety
MySpace to stream MSNBC content
Murdoch opts for NBC over Fox News
By SAM THIELMAN

Rupert Murdoch’s MySpace is streaming news from a major cable net, and it’s not Fox News Channel. The site has opted for the MSNBC over its corporate sibling.

“We are privileged today to be partnering with such revered news organizations as NBC News and msnbc.com,” said MySpace exec Lee Brenner in a statement Monday.

MSNBC is creating content for the site, keeping in mind MySpace’s predominantly teenage demo. NBC News marquee names Brian Williams, Tim Russert and Chris Matthews have created profiles where the reporters can post anything from videos of segments they hosted to lists of favorite songs.

As of Monday, there was no sign yet of Keith Olbermann, whose show “Countdown” has become MSNBC’s flagship program.

MySpace now streams MSNBC on its new “Impact” channel and hosts “Decision 08,” a mini-site dedicated to the election. NBC News VP Mark Lukasiewicz said that MSNBC would be “starting out kind of small and simple” as it tries to learn what MySpace users want from the site.

The friendliness between NBC U and News Corp. isn’t new: the two media rivals are partners in Internet vid distrib Hulu as well.

Via AP
AP’s Deb Riechmann, CNN’s Ed Henry win journalism awards

WASHINGTON (AP) — Deb Riechmann of The Associated Press and Ed Henry of CNN have won the Merriman Smith Award for presidential coverage under deadline pressure.

Riechmann, the winner in the print category, won for her coverage of President Bush’s trip to Iraq’s Anbar province last September. The judges praised her “solid reporting under the gun to make the very tight deadlines” and her judgment in recognizing the import of the president’s remarks about doing the job with fewer troops. Riechmann also won the Merriman Smith in 2006.

In the broadcast category, Henry won for reporting on the Bush administration’s contradicting assertions that top Iranian officials had authorized sending improvised explosive devices to Iraq. The judges wrote that Henry’s coverage “got better with each ensuing update throughout the day.”

The award carries a cash prize of $2,500 for each winner.
(more…)

Via Tampabay.com
By Eric Deggans
Political coverage is more noise than news

After months spent consuming endless cable TV news coverage of this endless presidential campaign, I’ve got a theory: The more attention they pay to a subject, the less viewers actually learn.

Trying to capitalize on the contentious, percolating viewer magnet that the campaign has become, each big cable news channel has its own evening show focused on the election: Fox’s America’s Election HQ, MSNBC’s Race to the White House and CNN’s Election Center. I recorded each show on April 9 and watched closely, eager to test my hypothesis.

The timing was good: Deep into the six-week break between primary elections, these shows offered a look at what cable might cover when actual news is in short supply.

Unfortunately, I found news programs chewing over morsels of information like grazing cows, taking a sliver of reported fact and massaging it with analysis and supposition until viewers had a tough time separating fact from assumption and opinion.

It’s the high “signal-to-noise ratio” of cable news, the way punditry and strategy often overwhelm the meat of reportage. Not surprisingly, the show with the highest ratio this day was on Fox News.

America’s Election HQ is a chummy, vibrating hour packed with flashy graphics, made-to-order partisan conflicts, Fox’s trademark friendliness to conservatives and two gleaming, youthful hosts in Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly.
(more…)

Via CJR
Why, Wolf, Why?
By Liz Cox Barrett

What is Wolf Blitzer “watching very closely” in the Situation Room right now? Well, according to his opening tease, he will “ask [Terry McAuliffe] how he expects his candidate [Clinton] will do” in the Pennsylvania primary.

Why, Wolf, Why? Can’t we answer that question (Hmm, how might the chairman of a candidate’s campaign expect that candidate will do?) without suffering through the segment? What does another round of expectations-management actually do for viewers?

I guess this is just the beginning of the end of Cable Covers the Keystone State, which will be kicking into high gear shortly…

UPDATE: Breaking news from McAuliffe: “We will win tomorrow. We will win in Pennsylvania… If [Obama] can’t [win] tomorrow…”

Via Poynter

Tony Snow Joins CNN as Political Contributor

Former White House press secretary Tony Snow will join CNN as a conservative commentator beginning today, it was announced by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S.

A well-known and respected observer of politics with a longstanding news background, Snow will contribute to CNN as the network continues to broadcast winning political coverage.

Snow most recently served as press secretary to President George W. Bush from April 2006 to September 2007. For 10 years beginning in 1996, he appeared on Fox News Channel, hosting Fox News Sunday, Weekend Live with Tony Snow and other programs. From 2003 to 2006, The Tony Snow Show aired on Fox News Radio. Before joining Fox, Snow served as a substitute “From the Right” co-host for CNN’s Crossfire.

“In the White House, Tony brought a remarkably human touch to the discussion of public policy, which he will continue to do as part of the Best Political Team on Television,” Klein said. “He will contribute a unique breadth of political and journalistic expertise to what is already the most provocative and wide-ranging political analysis on the air.”

“I’m delighted to be able to join CNN during the most exciting and unpredictable political year in memory,” Snow said. “The big challenge in 2008 is to develop deep, creative and aggressive analysis of both political parties, their candidates and campaigns. I’m eager to get started, since this race is sure to shape American politics for years to come.”
(more…)

Via B&C
CNN Wants to Engage First-Time Voters with New Campaign
League of First Time Voters Multiplatform Initiative Launches with Dedicated Web Site
By Alex Weprin

One day before the Pennsylvania primary, CNN is launching a campaign to educate, inform and connect first-time voters.

The multiplatform initiative, dubbed the “League of First Time Voters,” will provide up-to-date election information, voter-registration information, in-depth profiles of the candidates and an examination of their positions, as well as an extensive video library allowing the words of the candidates to speak for themselves.

CNN launched a Web site that will house the information.

“Millions of viewers, incredibly energized by this presidential campaign and by these candidates, have turned to CNN for our independent, incisive political coverage and debate programming,” CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein said in a statement. “The League provides us with the opportunity to empower those who haven’t voted before and those who haven’t taken part in the election process to have a voice this political season.”

CNN will incorporate the League campaign into its broader strategy, tagging all League of First Time Voters-related submissions to iReport.com and promoting the campaign on-air with a series of special reports, hosted by Rick Sanchez, which will also be available online at the dedicated Web sites.

Sanchez will profile many of the first-time voters in Pennsylvania in a series of reports leading up to the primary Tuesday. On weekends leading up to the general election, Sanchez will examine what motivates the new voters, as well as the impact they may have when Election Day rolls around.
(more…)

Via phillyBurbs
By Eric Gargiulo
MSNBC loves Barack Obama

David Shuster is a “correspondent” on MSNBC. Apparently MSNBC allows their commentators to dual as reporters, which is a recipe for disaster if you are looking for objective reporting. Not only has Shuster been overly critical of John McCain and Hillary Clinton, he was also suspended for remarks he made about Chelsea. How fair do you think his reporting or analysis is going to be of Hillary Clinton?

The clip is so bad that it’s funny. Joe Scarborough asked Shuster this morning about the Gallop Poll which showed an 11 point collapse for Barack Obama last week. Objective analyst/reporter, David Shuster’s response should make him the laughing stock of the media. Even Scarborough can’t help but laugh as his buddy sinks him with his partisan analysis.

Keep an eye on Shuster’s face as Scarborough runs down all of the recent Obama gaffes. Shuster looks like he is either going to cry or go postal. Purely priceless!

>Check out the video at phillyBurbs.

Via Philly.com
Ten questions for Hardball’s Chris Matthews
By Jonathan Storm

Fiery Chris Matthews has been back in his hometown covering the Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary for MSNBC, which televises his show, Hardball, weekdays at 5 and 7 p.m. This weekend, he attended his 45th class reunion at La Salle College High School in Glenside, and he and Keith Olbermann will be the anchor for MSNBC’s primary coverage tomorrow night.

Matthews interrupted his schedule to answer 10 questions about himself and cable news.

1) Are you really going to run for the Senate against Arlen Specter in 2010?

Where do you get that from? I am still honoring the commitment I made in 1987 to cover politics, not engage in it. Since boyhood, I’ve had a reverence for the Senate. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Advise and Consent, I loved those movies. But I’ve got a commitment to journalism that’s serious, and I cover politics, and I committed myself in 1987 not to engage in it again.

2) What was the main factor that caused you to lose your 1974 congressional primary run against then four-term Rep. Joshua Eilberg in Northeast Philadelphia?

I announced about two months before. I knew the odds were well against me, but I got 22 percent of the vote. . . . That was right in the middle of Watergate, a year that I thought that people should stand up against the abuses of the political establishment. I had 400 high-school students working with me in a clean, reform campaign. The Inquirer did a really nice piece. I think the headline was, “Fourth District Candidate Refuses All Money Gifts.” We’d stand out on The Boulevard with signs asking people voting for us to honk and wave. We had a band. It was pretty uphill.
(more…)

Via Newslab/Miami Herald
>EXCERPT
For political news, cable is now king

On cable, politics sometimes seem to be taking over entire newscasts. ‘’On ABC or NBC or CBS, you might have three minutes of political news, maybe five on a really heavy day,'’ says Marty Ryan, director of political coverage at Fox News Channel, who monitors his broadcast competitors closely. “On Brit Hume’s [Fox News 6 p.m.] show, we probably do 20 minutes every night.'’

Gaining the upper hand has paid handsome ratings dividends for the cable news nets: The number of viewers is up 11 percent over last year and 21 percent in prime time. A Pew Research Center poll earlier this year showed that more voters are getting their news on the presidential campaign from cable than from broadcast television.

The surrender of the political story has ominous overtones for broadcast news. Cable’s instant blanket coverage of big events like the Gulf War and the Columbine massacre long ago established it as the go-to place for big, breaking stories. But losing their dominance on coverage of politics at a time when the ratings for broadcast networks’ evening newscasts are in steep decline, financial pressures are mounting and CBS has even discussed turning over its news operations to cable rival CNN could sound the death knell for broadcast news, many analysts believe.

‘’These viewers will never come back to the broadcast networks,'’ says Roberts. “Truth to be told, if you talked off the record to network executives, they’d admit they want to get rid of their news divisions. They’ve always wanted to, but we’re approaching a time when they may really be able to do it.'’

EARLY SIGNS

Chris Wallace, who worked for all three broadcast network news divisions before moving to Fox News in 2003, says he first noticed the decline in broadcast political coverage during the 2004 conventions. ‘I was up on the podium with [CBS’] John Roberts and [NBC’s] Brian Williams,'’ he recalls, ‘and we all had monitors so we could see what our networks were showing. I glanced over at Williams’ screen, and NBC was showing people eating bugs on Fear Factor. It was pretty clear right then where things were headed.'’
(more…)

Via B&C
CNN.com Offers News You Can Wear
New Promotion Allows Visitors to Buy T-Shirts With Snappy Video Headlines From CNN.com
By Alex Weprin

Apparently not content to offer news you can use, CNN is peddling news you can wear.

Call it prêt-a-reporter: Beginning Monday, visitors to CNN.com will be able to purchase T-shirts featuring headlines from the site’s video reports.

By clicking on a new T-shirt icon that will accompany the headlines, news fans can order a custom crew-neck — in black, white or grey — emblazoned with the headline along with the slogan, “I just saw it on CNN.com,” and the time stamp from the moment they clicked.

CNN won’t offer all video headlines for T-shirt treatment, drawing the line at serious crimes, accidents and other potentially inappropriate topics (although, of course, that’s a matter of taste).

Perusing the possibilities at CNN.com last week, we were already picking out slacks to go with our “Boy’s Nose Blows Up 213 Balloons in an Hour” and “Toddler Forced to Smoke Pot in Video” T-shirts.

But we had to wonder if the campaign might draw readers to the more sensational headlines at the expense of the more newsworthy — or at least encourage CNN copy editors to punch up their headlines a little too much.

The opposite, actually — a CNN spokesperson said it was the editors’ wit that inspired the idea.

>Update: When clicking on the T-Shirt link, it sends you here.
The price is $15.00 + $4.99 s/h.