Outside Cable News

Via MTV Newsroom
CNN vs FOX News: Whose Is Bigger? And Can We Touch It?

Back in March, on the night of the Texas and Ohio primaries, we were invited down to the NYC headquarters of FOX News to see first-hand how FOX does it up on primary night. To cut a long story short…we were introduced to Bill Hemmer and his equally-famous ‘Bill Board’ — in essence, a plasma screen on steroids!

Well, about a week after that piece aired, we got a call from none other than rival mega-network CNN — casually asking us if we’d like to come pay them a visit and see how they do it!

So yesterday, on the night of the Pennsylvania primary, myself, cameraman Brendan Kennedy, and producer “Monty” Montalto headed down to the impressive CNN Election Center. We soon found ourselves face-to-face with John King and his “Magic Wall.” And in all seriousness, his plasma screen gave FOX a run for their money.

At 81 x 48 inches, the touch-screen plasma is an impressive piece of kit (a stripped-down version will set you back $100,000). Originally created for use by the military (yes, the military), the screen has become a popular feature in their election coverage. As the legendary Wolf Blitzer (who does an hour everyday on the treadmill: FACT) rehearsed his lines behind us, King gave us an impressive demonstration as to what the “Magic Wall” was capable of.

>Update: Video after the jump..

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Via Huffington Post
By Rachel Sklar
Flag Pins: Who Wears ‘Em?

There’s been much ado about flag pins lately — who wears them, who doesn’t, and whether that means you are patriotic enough to be president.

>Rachel seems to have all the networks covered…
>Read the rest at Huffington Post.

Via Multichannel News
CNN Leads The Night With Penn. Primary
Network Sets Pace Among Viewers, News Demo
By Mike Reynolds

CNN topped the cable news ratings chart with its coverage of the Pennsylvania primary Tuesday night in both total viewers and the key news demo.

During primetime, CNN averaged just under 2.56 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research data, versus 2.36 million for Fox News Channel and 1.62 million for MSNBC. Among the 25-to-54 set, CNN averaged 805,000 of those viewers in the daypart, compared with 641,000 for MSNBC and 556,000 for Fox News.

From 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., CNN also set the pace with 2.08 million watchers, ahead of 1.92 million for Fox News and 1.25 million for MSNBC.

Measured against adults 25 to 54, CNN tallied 707,000 of those watchers over the five-hour span, 201,000 more than MSNBC. Fox News tallied 485,000 with that demo over the period.

Via PilotOnline
Journalists speak at ODU commencements
By Matthew Bowers

Old Dominion University graduates will hear from two nationally known commentators at their May 10 commencements: Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” and Leonard Pitts Jr., syndicated columnist with The Miami Herald, the university confirmed today.

Matthews, a former speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter, newspaper reporter and author, was awarded the David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism in 2004.
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>Thanks to an email tip.

Via KCMO
Fox News’ Megyn Kelly talk with Chris about the Pennsylvania Primary. Link

Via KXLY
Tony Snow in satisfactory condition at Sacred Heart

SPOKANE — Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is said to be in satisfactory condition at a Spokane hospital.

The nursing supervisor at Sacred Heart Medical Center didn’t specify on what landed Snow in the hospital, but noted that he was doing well Wednesday morning, nearly 24 hours after he was brought in for medical care.

Snow was admitted to Sacred Heart Tuesday morning for what an Eastern Washington University official originally described as “exhaustion.” He was slated to hold a public lecture at EWU Tuesday as part of the Presidential Speaker Series, but spent the day at the hospital instead and was forced to cancel the speech.

As of early Wednesday morning, there’s still no word on whether Snow is re-scheduling his appearance at Eastern.

The former Fox News commentator and press secretary for the Bush administration was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005 and had his colon removed. Last year while serving as President Bush’s press secretary, Snow underwent surgery to investigate an abdominal growth. The surgery revealed that the growth was cancerous and had metastasized.

Later, he announced that the cancer was in remission. On Monday, speaking with KXLY 920 radio pundit Mike Fitzsimmons, Snow said that he still his cancer, takes pills five days a week and undergoes chemotherapy every three weeks, a regiment that he described as “not all that rough.”
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Via Observer
By Felix Gillette
Watergate Revisionism: Fox Journalist Expiates John Mitchell

James Rosen’s mission: to prove that the papers of Richard Nixon’s late, disgraced Attorney General unlock the true history of America’s greatest political scandal

“This is not your father’s Watergate,” said James Rosen.

Mr. Rosen, an on-air D.C.-based correspondent for Fox News was speaking to NYTV on Monday afternoon. Next month, Doubleday will publish Mr. Rosen’s first book—a revisionist history of Richard Nixon’s downfall, called The Strongman: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate.

As NYTV’s overcrowded bookshelf can attest, TV newsmen are constantly cranking out books that are heavy on the self-promotion and light on, um, research. Mr. Rosen’s book promises to be neither. It will weigh in at a hefty 600 or so pages, contain 65 pages of footnotes, and will include insight culled from some 250 original interviews. There was no ghostwriter. And in a clear affront to the requirements of the genre, Mr. Rosen’s face doesn’t even appear on the cover.
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Via Philly.com
By Ellen Gray
Ellen Gray: Cable news shows offer plenty of talk, not much action

BY 9 P.M., it was all over but the shouting.

And as anyone who watches cable news knows, the shouting is never over.

If you happened to be waiting for results from CNN last night, you might have seen panelists, with no raw votes yet to chew on, screaming to make themselves heard on the all-important question of whether Barack Obama’s preacher was better or worse than John Hagee, the anti-Catholic minister who’s endorsed the presumptive Republican nominee.

Scenes like this are why your remote has a mute button.

Still, it was a tricky day for the talking heads, with hours to fill before the polls closed in Pennsylvania, a strong sense that Hillary Clinton had prevailed and a need to maintain some sort of suspense, anyway.

On Fox News Channel, the first of the three 24-hour news networks to call Pennsylvania for Clinton, the suspense lasted a full 45 minutes. At 8:45 p.m., with fewer than 1 percent of the votes in, Fox blew the whistle.

MSNBC followed a couple of minutes later, while CNN waited till shortly after 9, when, with 6 percent of the vote in, it suggested that on its all-blue map, Clinton’s light blue would eventually overwhelm Obama’s darker blue.

Given past disasters involving exit polls, the C in CNN might last night have stood for Cautious, but with ratings hanging in the balance, it might also have meant Canny.

Who, after all, wants to be first if first means viewers change the channel?
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>I saw this already clipped on Red Lasso.

Via Reuters
Chinese lawyers sue CNN over “goons” comment: report
Reporting by John Ruwitch; Editing by Nick Macfie

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A group of Chinese lawyers have sued CNN, saying remarks by commentator Jack Cafferty in which he called Chinese “goons” violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people, a Hong Kong newspaper said.

The Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po said the Beijing court had yet to accept the case, which comes amid a wave of criticism in China against Western news outlets in the wake of recent unrest in Tibet and disruptions to the Beijing Olympic torch relay abroad.

China’s Foreign Ministry summoned CNN’s Beijing bureau chief last week and demanded an apology after Cafferty said Chinese products were “junk”, adding the remark: “They are basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”

One of the 14 lawyers who launched the case told the newspaper Cafferty’s remarks “seriously violated and abused the reputation and dignity of the plaintiffs as Chinese people, and caused serious spiritual and psychological injury to the plaintiffs”.

The lawyers sought the restoration of the Chinese people’s reputation through publications and in the media and asked for 100 yuan ($14.31) in damages, it said.
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Via Reuters
By Paul J. Gough
King keeps seat at CNN through 2011

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Larry King is staying at CNN for at least another two years.

King, 74, and CNN extended their contract through at least 2011. His talk show, always one of CNN’s top-rated shows, has run since 1985. King’s existing deal was set to run out in summer 2009.

King’s fate at CNN wasn’t ever really in question even before word of the extension. But some doubt crept in two weeks ago with a news report that claimed low-rated “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric might replace King at some point.

During last week’s Radio-TV Correspondents Dinner in Washington, comedian Mo Rocca joked that Couric was “waiting for Larry to wander off.”

Calls to King’s agent, John Ferriter, weren’t immediately returned. CNN declined to comment other than to say that “Larry is the best and he’ll be here for a long time.” Financial terms of the deal couldn’t be determined.