Outside Cable News

Via Multichannel News
CNN Ratchets Up Coverage For Indiana, North Carolina Primaries
Network Bringing Full-Court Press For Key Democratic Contests
By Larry Barrett

CNN Friday announced the specifics of its grand coverage plans leading up to, during and immediately following the key Democratic primaries in North Carolina and Indiana next week.

The network’s political team, led by lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer, will report live from the CNN Election Center and across both states as voters go to the polls Tuesday, May 6 to help determine whether Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton will emerge as the party’s nominee.

CNN’s special primetime programming will begin 7 p.m. ET, following wall-to-wall politics on The Situation Room, and will run late into the night. Blitzer will be joined by anchors Campbell Brown, Anderson Cooper and Lou Dobbs.

Special correspondent Soledad O’Brien and senior political analyst Bill Schneider will review exit poll data while chief national correspondent John King will provide in-depth, state-specific data and analysis using the CNN “multi-touch” board that delivers complex demographic and delegate data in an easily accessible format.
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Via KBS Radio
First Annual Sunset Strip Music Fest Unites Legendary Los Angeles Venues
By: Adrianne Stone

Legendary West Hollywood music venues are uniting for the first annual Sunset Strip Music Festival from June 26th through June 28th. The Roxy, Whisky A-Go-Go, House of Blues, Viper Room, Key Club, and Cat Club will host a line-up, still to be announced, that will pay homage to the musical revolution that occurred on the 1.3 mile stretch of rock and blues clubs since the ’60s.

The celebration will kick off with a celebrity event emceed by Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath, followed by celebrity events the next two nights and an “Icon Roundtable” conversation with music legends and industry experts moderated by CNN’s Larry King.

Biollboard reports that artist already signed to perform include Hot Hot Heat, Louis XIV, Juliette and The Licks, the 88, Dilated Peoples, Godhead and B Real of Cypress Hill.

Although other artists have yet to be announced, they will likely include at least some of the artists who’ve created musical history on the Sunset Strip, such as Motley Crue, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, members of the Doors, Van Halen, Guns N’Roses, Jane’s Addiction, Black Flag, the Go-Go’s and many others.

Via CVG
CNN goes MENTAL over GTA IV
“We’re training our kids to be killers”!

And so it begins: CNN reporter Glenn Beck has gone proper off on one, warning parents on television of the new ‘murder celebrator’ Grand Theft Auto IV, which he says is “training our kids to be killers”. Ban this sick filth!

“Whatever happened to Pong?!” asks a furious Beck, going into a frenzied rant we thought only existed in GTA’s own media-mocking radio shows.

“Here’s what you need to know tonight; in Grand Theft Auto your son, husband or boyfriend can hire a prostitute, have sex with her and then beat her to death with a baseball bat.

“When a police officer comes after him, he can either light that police officer on fire or cut him in half with a chainsaw. This is entertainment?!”

The CNN presenter continues: “We are training our kids to be killers and we are training our sons to treat women like whores.”

Brilliant ideas there from Glenn, but unfortunately as far as we know there’s no chainsaw or flamethrower in GTA IV. We dare not suggest he hasn’t played it, though…

Watch the full CNN rant on You Tube.

Via Seattle PI
Media complicit in making Wright look bad
By KENNETH F. BUNTING

“Here endeth the lesson.”

Sean Connery’s memorable line in the 1987 movie “The Untouchables” followed sage advice to Kevin Costner character Elliot Ness that had nothing to do with politics or image rehabilitation.

But, oh how I wish those four words had come to mind for the Rev. Jeremiah Wright last week when he concluded taping his memorable, but now forgotten, interview with PBS journalist Bill Moyers.

But then we would have all missed last weekend’s attention-grabbing flurry of activities. None of us would know that the good reverend could do a pretty good imitation of a drum major for a soulful college marching band. Or that he is capable of pretty bad impersonations of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Nor would we have heard his scholarly explanation of how culture and ancestral roots affect musical styles, tastes and traditions. And, of course, there were his flippant and dismissive responses to questions posed to him at the National Press Club event.

But couldn’t we all have lived just fine without any of that? I know I could.

To be so deprived would have been just fine, first of all, because it would be more likely that the Wright distraction was behind us.
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Via BloggingStocks
Battle of the Brands: CNN vs. Fox (and MSNBC too)
by Jonathan Berr

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

The heads of CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC along with their corporate masters at Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) must be giggling with delight at the prospect of the Democratic presidential race continuing past the hotly contested race in Pennsylvania.

After all, controversy means more viewers, which of course means more advertising dollars. They probably wish that the Democrats would beat each other up in 30-second TV spots every year, but alas Americans elect a president every four years, which is probably a good thing for everybody. Still, the cable networks are going to ride this gravy train for as long as they can.

Like anything else in cable news, picking a winner in this battle of the brands depends on how you look at it. Fox, the home of Bill O’Reilly and Shepherd Smith, attracted 1.89 million viewers during Monday’s prime time, the most of any network, according to Nielsen data cited by TVNewser. CNN attracted 1.03 million on its main network and 572,000 on its Headline News channel, while MSNBC was watched by 676,000.

Before conservatives start declaring Fox the top cable network yet again, remember that statistic does not represent the whole picture. Cable news advertisers are most interested in viewers aged 25 to 54 who are most likely to be interested in buying mutual funds and other products that they are shilling. That’s where things get interesting.

Based on that demographic, Fox was seen by 377,000 people in prime time, which advertisers care the most about, fairly close to the 311,000 viewed by CNN. It is still ahead of the 245,000 who watched MSNBC and the 218,000 that saw Headline News. Sometimes CNN even manages to beat Fox in the ratings on certain shows in certain nights. Fox, though, rules the roost, much to the horror of some.
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Via Brand Republic
CNN takes up presence on Google
by Louisa May Cooper Media Week

LONDON - News broadcaster CNN International has launched a video-enabled service via Google that allows users to personalise their iGoogle homepage with CNN content.

The service also enables users to link back to CNN’s channel on video-sharing site YouTube for more video footage. The iGoogle service allows users to create a customised start page that enables them to monitor multiple web sites in one place.

The development is part of CNN’s strategy to expand its digital presence. Last July, the company enhanced its flagship website CNN.com to feature more live online video.

In addition to CNN.com and its linear television service, CNN is accessible on mobile devices through CNNmobile.com, and is also distributed across a range of IPTV and VoD services, including Joost, YouTube and Dailymotion.

Casey Harwood, senior vice-president Turner Europe, said CNN International was actively embracing new ways of distributing content, as part of a strategy to reach audiences more widely across the digital space.

>Related: CNN International offers iGoogle player

Via Washington Post
Foxy Lady
By Howard Kurtz

Maybe it was when Bill O’Reilly called her a socialist for wanting to redistribute income and she said she was following in Teddy Roosevelt’s footsteps.

Maybe it was when O’Reilly said her health plan would bankrupt the country and “I don’t want to be paying for someone who’s taking heroin and drinking a bottle of gin a day,” and she shot back: “But I assume you want to pay for some hardworking family whose kid has juvenile diabetes.”

Maybe it was when O’Reilly said she was as polarizing as he is, and she said she had accumulated scars by fighting for what she believes in.

It was clear that Hillary Clinton acquitted herself quite well in the Fox News sit-down, in part because politicians can score more runs when they’re forced to play hardball. She also seems to be in a comfort zone lately as Barack Obama struggles through a tough month. The question is whether this is causing the media, which have all but written her off, to reassess Clinton’s chances.

>Read the rest at Washington Post. (4 Pages)

Via Telegraph
The most influential US political pundits: 10-1

10. MARK HALPERIN
9. DAVID BROOKS
8. JON STEWART
7. TIM RUSSERT
6. MATT DRUDGE
5. JOHN HARRIS AND JIM VANDEHEI
4. RUSH LIMBAUGH
3. SEAN HANNITY
2. CHRIS MATTHEWS
1. KARL ROVE

>For a little context about each one and to see the entire 50.. Check out Telegraph.

>TVNewser is all over this one, so I won’t bother being redundant, eh?

The Times, the one in New York and the one in Los Angeles, have Friday write-ups on Fox’s new friends: the Democrats.

>Read the rest at TVNewser.

>TVNewser reported on Ted David leaving CNBC. (Back on 04/29/08) Now, the NY Daily News gets around to writing it up.

Via NY Daily News
Leaving CNBC, David takes stock
By DAVID HINCKLEY

When Ted David started at CNBC in 1989, a month before the business network launched, he wasn’t exactly Mr. Economics Wizard.

“I didn’t know a stock from a bond,” he says, laughing. “When they asked about signing up for a 401(k), I didn’t know what it was.”

A whole lot has changed in 20 years, for the media business world and for David, who today is retiring from CNBC - though not from the media.

“I’ve reached a certain birthday and my contract was up,” he says. “I’ve never worked at a place where people were warmer or friendlier. Now, after 38 years in this market, I have more time to do some of the other things I love.”
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Via LAT
Cable flubs, snubs and dust-ups

>LA Times has a 9 page slide show.

Via MarketWatch
CNBC’s Trish Regan has no trouble being heard
Commentary: A once-aspiring opera singer is making a mark in TV biz news
By Jon Friedman, MarketWatch

Each Friday this month, Media Web will profile a prominent television business journalist. Next week, we’ll look at the Fox Business Network’s “Go-To Anchor.”
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Trish Regan, a CNBC anchor and reporter for the past 14 months, has the ideal pedigree for a television-news journalist.

No, it’s not as if the Hampton, N.H., native did it the old-fashioned way by starting out in a market like Dubuque before climbing the ladder to CNBC, a unit of General Electric. And it isn’t her Exeter/Ivy education, her former reign as Miss New Hampshire or her summer work at Goldman Sachs.

I’m talking about her training as an opera singer. She studied at the New England Conservatory and spent a summer in Graz, Austria, at the American Institute of Musical Studies.
Regan, you see, put in the time to be an opera singer because she loved the craft.
“It’s not like I wanted to be Britney Spears,” she said. “Maria Callas was another story.”
The same principle has held true in her pursuit of a career in media.
“Everything I do, I do 100%, classical music or poring over earnings or interviewing someone,” she told me. “It consumes me. I can zero in on something and be completely focused.”

>Read the rest at MarketWatch.

Via Observer
By Felix Gillette
CNN Purchases Second ‘Magic Wall’

In the current issue of Time, the magazine’s editors name New York based scientist and entrepreneur Jefferson Han as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Mr. Han, who grew up in Queens, is the founder of Perceptive Pixel, the company that makes the futuristic multi-touch screens that are all the rage in this year’s political coverage on TV, thanks to CNN and Fox News. (See Jeffrey Toobin demonstrating it above!)

John King, who spends big primary nights in front of the cameras at CNN playing with one of Mr. Han’s multi-touch screens (nicknamed the Magic Wall), interviews Mr. Han for the “Time 100″ package.

Along the way, Mr. King lets it slip that CNN will soon be doubling its Magic Wall arsenal.

“My fingers are part of that new world,” writes Mr. King. “Tune in to CNN on any major election night as I navigate the ever-changing map that the folks at CNN call the Magic Wall. CNN owns one map, with a second on the way.”

What will CNN do with its second unit? Are they currently grooming a second touch-screen specialist in addition to Mr. King?

Contacted by Media Mob, a CNN spokesperson was mum on the details. The spokesperson did, hoever, confirm that CNN has purchased a second Magic Wall and said the new unit will be arriving in the coming weeks and will make its debut sometime thereafter.