Outside Cable News

Via New York Magazine
Donny Deutsch Takes His Shirt Off Again, Says He Could Run for Mayor

Donny Deutsch’s show isn’t doing so hot. Its ratings on CNBC are down 15 percent from last year, and sometimes his viewership is so low it doesn’t even register on the Nielsen scale. So it would be a good time for the Big Idea host to agree to a fluff profile, right? Maybe in the alumni magazine of his alma mater, the Pennsylvania Gazette. They’re sure to say something nice. They have to! Or maybe not. In this month’s issue, magazine writer Jordana Horn gives Deutsch the Observer treatment, allowing the former adman to make himself look kind of ridiculous. The article leads with Deutsch stripping off his shirt during the interview and boasting that he could be mayor of New York if he wanted. “You know, if I really wanted to do it, I would meet with a top advisor. I’d find some great political operatives, and hire the head of my campaign,” Deutsch said. “I’d meet with all the top people I know on Wall Street, and start a fundraising campaign.” Horn, to her credit, does a pretty good job of ignoring his “not-bad set of abs for a 50-year-old guy” and presses him on the mayor point. “You gotta say, why not me?” Deutsch persists.

>Read the rest at New York Magazine.

Via RadarOnline
Chris Matthews’ Finest Moments

Chris Matthews might be brash, over the top, and at times idiotic, but in an era of overly careful, PC-conscious talking heads, we kind of appreciate it. Which is why we constructed this loving tribute to “Tweety.” In the above compilation of some of Matthews’ most controversial and sometimes just plain imbecilic comments, the big guy shows his range, equally able to pronounce Barack Obama’s basketball skill unsurprising (subtext: because he’s black) and longingly wish for the return of the Stepford Wife. But it’s not that Matthews is necessarily a racist, sexist, classist bigot (though he might be), it’s just that the guy has a certain way of expressing his opinions on those issues that recalls a lumberjack at a tea party. And it’s damn entertaining.

>Check out RadarOnline for the clip.

Via Wired
Tributes to O’Reilly’s Meltdown Surface Online
By Jenna Wortham

Several parodies of Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly’s on-air meltdown are making their way around the web.

One, embedded right and slightly NSFW, features satirical pundit and Wired fave Steven Colbert mocking the spectacle on the Daily Show. Another parody remixes the original clip as techno tune.

The original clip surfaced Monday, and shows O’Reilly shouting obscenities, tearing off his jacket, and generally freaking out, while attempting to read a teleprompter. The video is from twenty years earlier, during O’Reilly’s run on Inside Edition.

On Wednesday’s edition of The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly acknowledged the video, brushing it off as amusement for his co-workers. He quipped: “I have plenty of much newer stuff … if you want to buy the tapes I have, I’m happy to sell them to you.”

>Check out the video at Wired.

Via PageOneQ
VIDEO: CNN incorrectly reports on California gay marriage ruling
by PageOneQ

The Cable News Network (CNN), a few moments after 1pm ET today, reported that the Supreme Court of California ruled against the right of lesbian and gay couples to marry in the state.

Just one small problem: They didn’t bother to read the whole ruling before reporting the story.

While the Court determined by a 4-3 vote that the City and County of San Francisco acted unlawfully by issuing 4,037 marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, it ultimately issued a win for such couples in California, ruling that the existing domestic partnership law was insufficient, and that barring gay and lesbian couples from civil marriage was unconstitutional.

CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin said that “…there’s going to be a contingency of people and a contingent that are very unhappy with the decision. I can’t think it was unexpected; we knew that the top court of California was going to decide today whether to legalize same-sex marriage, and it appears that they have determined that they would not legalize same-sex marriage.”

>Video available at PageOneQ

Via B&C
CNBC Bringing Squawk Box to The Cable Show
Bravo to Unveil Top Chef Truck in New Orleans

NBC Universal revealed some details regarding its plans at The Cable Show ’08 in New Orleans next week.

Carl Quintanilla, co-anchor of CNBC’s Squawk Box, will broadcast live from the floor of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Monday, May 19 and Tuesday, May 20.

In addition, CNBC media and entertainment reporter Julia Boorstin will report live from the show throughout the day May 20.

As first reported in B&C, Bravo will unveil its Top Chef truck at The Cable Show. Top Chef season-two contestant Josie Smith-Malave and season three’s Lia Bardeen will host guests at the show before sending the truck off to give cooking demonstrations across the country.

Via Post-Standard
O’Reilly tries to take on SU’s Cantor
Chancellor defends free speech when ambushed by “O’Reilly Factor” crew.
By Nancy Cole

The debate between Fox News talk show host Bill O’Reilly and Syracuse University professor Boyce Watkins has flared back up, and this time O’Reilly is also going after the university.

O’Reilly said Tuesday on his television show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” that Watkins, a black business professor, is one of many “race hustlers seeking to use the presidential contest to push a radical agenda.”

“Like Ward Churchill at the University of Colorado, Watkins hides behind academic freedom in his villainous pursuits,” O’Reilly said. “But Syracuse University should have academic standards, and it apparently does not. Again, Watkins is using the university as cover.”

O’Reilly and Watkins have gone head to head before over race issues related to politics.

A camera crew from the talk show ambushed SU chancellor Nancy Cantor on Friday as she walked across campus with her husband.
(more…)

Via Xinhua News Agency/Inside Cable News

CNN President Jim Walton has apologized for the insulting remarks by CNN commentator Jack Cafferty on China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday.

“On behalf of CNN I’d like to apologize to the Chinese people for that,” said Walton in a letter to Chinese ambassador to the United States Zhou Wenzhong, according to Qin.

Walton also said, “CNN has the highest respect for Chinese people around the world and we have no doubt that there was genuine offense felt by them over the Jack Cafferty commentary.”

>Earlier: CNN now sued for $1.3 billion - $1 per person in China