Outside Cable News

Via Salon
Karl Rove’s sly deal with Fox
The GOP mastermind is billed as a top campaign analyst for the cable news network. But he has his fingerprints all over John McCain’s White House bid.
By Amanda Terkel and Matt Corley

It has now been more than three months since Karl Rove first appeared on television as a Fox News political analyst on Feb 5. In no fewer than 57 appearances, he has increasingly been welcomed into the Fox News fraternity, even joking that the “Hannity & Colmes” show should be renamed the “Colmes & Rove” show. After departing from a Bush administration in political tatters last August, he has reemerged to hold forth at length on the 2008 presidential race. And he may have plenty of seasoned political wisdom to offer Fox’s audience. Rove, however, is playing a strategic role that he and the network refuse to reveal to viewers.

>Read the rest at Salon.

Via B&C
S.D Relents on Exit Polling
AP, ABC, Fox News Channel, CBS, CNN Will Be Able to Conduct Exit Polling Within 100 Feet of Primary Polls in South Dakota
By John Eggerton

AP and the TV news networks will be able to conduct exit polling within 100 feet of the polls in the South Dakota primary June 3.

According to a network-news source, the attorney general’s office of South Dakota agreed to settle a suit filed by the networks against the law by permanently enjoining the state from enforcing its statutory ban on exit polling within 100 feet of the polls.

Joining in the court challenge in addition to AP were ABC, Fox News Channel, CBS and CNN, which together comprise the National Election Pool, a consortium of news organizations that teamed up for vote counts and election analysis.

They argued that the law limited their ability to gather information and comment on it and that they had conducted such polling in South Dakota before.

According to AP, the South Dakota secretary of state recently sent an e-mail to polling representatives saying that the law should be enforced.

The networks said the restriction would hurt the sample because some people may be able to leave without the networks having the opportunity to question them.

>Earlier: AP, Networks Sue Over South Dakota Exit-Polling Restrictions

>If the video box is blank, you might be able to see it with this link.

Via Guardian
White House accuses NBC of misrepresenting Bush remarks on Iran
By Elana Schor

>Ah, didn’t realize TVNewser was already all over this one. So head on over there for more coverage.

The White House today accused NBC news of twisting George Bush’s remarks on Iran and suggested that the television network had absorbed the bias of two of its star pundits.

The rare presidential condemnation of a news network comes days after Barack Obama lashed back at Bush for likening negotiations with US opponents in the Middle East to the appeasement of Hitler.

During an interview aired today on the network, NBC correspondent Richard Engel asked Bush whether the remarks were aimed at Obama.

“You know, my policies haven’t changed, but evidently the political calendar has,” Bush said.

“People need to read the speech. You didn’t get it exactly right, either. What I said is that we need to take the words of people seriously.”
(more…)

Via NBCUNI Media Village

“Untold Wealth: The Rise of The Super Rich” will premiere on Thursday, June 19th at 10PM and 1AM, pre-empting “The Big Idea” with Donny Deutsch.

The show will repeat on Sunday, June 22nd at 10PM and Sunday, June 29th at 12AM.

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. - May 19, 2008 - In 1985 there were 13 US billionaires- today there are more than a 1,000 The number of people with more than $30 million in savings could fill a medium-sized city. With more billionaires and multi-millionaires in our country than in any time in history- this explosion of wealth is being described as the “New Gilded Age”. Even as a recession descends on most Americans, the New Super-Rich continue to live in a parallel world of luxury…a world where multiple homes, personal staffs and countless possessions seem to grow more outlandish.. along with their fortunes.

“Untold Wealth: The Rise of the Super Rich,” reported by CNBC’s David Faber, takes an unprecedented, inside look at this new species: how they came to be; what differentiates them from their predecessors; their candid and conflicted feelings about wealth.. and the implications for the future.

Via CNBC
CNBC.com Plans Live Video Stream of Warren Buffett’s Swiss News Conference
By Alex Crippen

CNBC.com and CNBC are planning live coverage of tomorrow’s scheduled news conference by Warren Buffett in Switzerland, the second stop of his European shopping tour.

It’s set to begin tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 8:45a ET.

CNBC.com will provide a live video stream of the entire event. CNBC’s Squawk Box also plans extensive live coverage.

The news conference will be held at the Lausanne campus of the Swiss business school IMD.

After the news conference, at 10a ET, Buffett will participate in a IMD webcast titled Lessons from a Legendary Investor: How to grow wealth in a responsible and sustainable manner. He’ll be joined by IMD Professor Joachim Schwass and the Chairman of Berkshire’s Iscar subsidiary in Israel, Eitan Werthheimer.
(more…)

Via Observer
Chris Matthews Will Explain Your Movie
by Matt Haber

Chris Matthews cannot be stopped. A month after singing his ‘aria’ in The New York Times Magazine and almost announcing his intention to run for office on The Colbert Report, the host of MSNBC’s Hardball is now conquering Hollywood.

Matthews appears as himself in the trailer for Swing Vote, a film that appears to be a gentle political comedy starring a leathery Kevin Costner as a man whose vote—his solitary vote—will decide the presidential election.

>Read the rest and check out the video at Observer.

>Or it might be a new one all together?

>Update: Prime News seems to be sportin’ something a little different.. after the jump.
(more…)

Via Observer
Glenn Beck Signs Huge New Two-Book Deal with Simon & Schuster
by Felix Gillette

The Media Mob has learned that conservative radio and television host Glenn Beck has just finished signing a huge new two-book deal with Simon & Schuster imprint Threshold Editions. According to a source with knowledge of the deal, the agreement will net Mr. Beck, the host of Headline News’ “Glenn Beck,” approximately $3 million. The initial print run will be a whopping 750,000 copies.

This past fall, Threshold Editions published Mr. Beck’s “An Inconvenient Book,” which immediately debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. According to Executive Vice President and Publisher Louise Burke, Threshold Editions has shipped over half a million copies of “An Inconvenient Book,” with no returns to date, making it a big hit for the imprint.

Ms. Burke said that Mr. Beck’s next book will be a work of fiction, based heavily on the real events of his childhood (including the death of his mother during his teenage years) and will be titled “The Christmas Sweater.” The holiday-themed tome is expected to hit the bookshelves in Fall 2008. Throughout the holiday season, Mr. Beck will promote the “Christmas Sweater,” while touring the country performing his annual Christmas show.
(more…)

>Any thoughts on this new promo?
>If the video box is blank, you might be able to see it with this link.

Via CJR
CNN’s Declaration of Independence
By Liz Cox Barrett

This CNN ad campaign was new to me (I saw it over the weekend on NY1).

(VOICEOVER) Every American is an independent thinker. No matter your party. No matter your candidate. Get the facts from the only news channel to give you all sides. No spin. No affiliation. No agenda. Just the facts. Demand the truth. We do. You do, too. It’s the most important story this year. Declare your independence. Only CNN equals politics.

If Fox News is “the signal cultural artifact of the Bush era” and, per Chris Matthews, MSNBC unofficially leans Obama-ward, CNN, it seems, is trying to own what it sees as a void in cable news (political news in particular): just-the-facts, opinion-free coverage.

“No spin?” Maybe CNN is declaring that CNN (Anderson, Candy, Wolf et al) won’t spin viewers? But will CNN be spun? Surely CNN is not announcing an end to its post-political-debate visits to the Spin Room? Will CNN just continue to delegate the heavy-lifting (spin-wise) to its guests (will we still see split-screen campaign surrogates spinning and counter-spinning on CNN)?

Because a cable news channel independent of such cable news staples would be revolutionary.

>While this outfit doesn’t even compare to the last time I shamed Glick.. You have to admit she does look a bit trashy, eh?!

Via Washington Post/TVNewser
By Howard Kurtz
Feud Fuels Bill O’Reilly’s Blasts at GE

>Update: Inside Cable News has an ‘in depth” piece about the Kurtz write up.

It was then, Kurtz writes, that “back-channel discussions” involving Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes and NBC’s Jeff Zucker began.

Ailes called Zucker on his cellphone last summer. According to sources familiar with the conversation, Ailes warned that if Olbermann didn’t stop such attacks against Fox, he would unleash O’Reilly against NBC and would use the New York Post as well.

Fox News spokesman Brian Lewis said Ailes never offered a “quid pro quo.” GE spokesman Gary Sheffer tells a different story. He told Kurtz, News Corp. execs “tell us if the attacks on O’Reilly end, the attacks on GE will end. They’ve had conversations with our news executives saying, ‘If you stop, we’ll stop.’”