Personally I like the new angle but logistically I could see that it forces the cameras and gear over to a part of the set which has been used in the past for big presentations, rendering that part of the set relatively useless. There was a technical reason which forced this move but don’t expect it to last.

The LA Times’ Matea Gold writes about the new blogs on network news that have appeared recently…

Why has broadcast television devoted relatively little coverage to the recent South Asia earthquake? Should the networks have done more stories about President Bush’s troubled swing through South America earlier this month? And just what do viewers gain when television reporters deliver live reports while standing outside in the middle of raging hurricanes?

Those are just a few of the questions that have been raised on blogs in recent weeks, but not by outside critics of broadcast news. In each case, the queries have been posed by network employees — including those as prominent as NBC anchor Brian Williams — on the network’s own websites.

Spurred by declining viewership, the growing prominence of the Internet and the public’s increasing skepticism of traditional media outlets, the broadcast networks are now pulling back the curtain in an attempt to preempt criticism and burnish their reputation. In recent months, all of the network news divisions have adopted online features aimed at providing more transparency about their operations and decision-making.

Robert P. Lawrence in the San Diego Union Tribune wonders if CNN might be making the same mistake twice. He also interviews Jonathan Klien. And he joins the fraternity of TV writers who have dragged Ashleigh Banfield’s name into this saga…

Aaron Brown was given a prime-time news show, “NewsNight,” largely on the strength of his impassioned, often eloquent coverage of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 – his first day on the job at CNN.

He was considered the new face of CNN, but his show faltered in the ratings and was no help in the all-news channel’s losing battle with Fox News.

(more…)

TVNewser posts a bunch of rumors on CNBC’s programming future….

NorthNewJersey.com’s Virginia Rohan has a profile of FNC’s Martha MacCallum…(via TVNewser)

While she’s on the air, MacCallum moves among several work stations, each equipped with a laptop computer, on which she checks news alerts, scans the wires and communicates with her producers. She ad-libs much of the program.

“We have a script, and we’re happiest when it gets thrown out the window in favor of breaking news,” says MacCallum, who interviews guests and features reporters in the field.

This woman is the picture of calmness, on camera and off. MacCallum is not ruffled by a reporter’s question about the criticism often leveled at Fox News Channel: that it’s hardly fair and balanced but has an obvious conservative bias.
(more…)

It looks like MSNBC viewers will have twice the Scarborough Country this week (according to TV Guide online) as the show will once again be airing at 4 pm and 10 pm EST. It had appeared that last week’s double airing of Scarborough was only for that week but this is apparently not the case. The show is not airing twice live and when you add Hardball’s double airing to that, it appears to me MSNBC may be trying to cut costs by not being as live as it once was. This makes absolutely no sense to me at all but I guess if you have to cut, you have to cut. But MSNBC’s rep is going to take it on the chin as a result….

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Karen Heller apparently doesn’t like what’s going on with some news anchors these days, though her article seems to suffer from tunnel vision on a certain network and anchor, while ignoring his rival at another network who was just as emotional….

Katrina was like a test-drive, a first date with ill winds, and all the news guys went into flap-jacket overdrive. It’s hard not to be a bit repelled by the bad-weather opportunism.

Anderson Cooper, he of the Vanderbilt pedigree and silver Caesar crop, feels everyone’s pain and then some. New Orleans was his high-water mark of feeling bad, getting involved because he’s a New Age guy with an old world name and, goshdarnit, he had to.
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The NY Daily News’ Phyllis Furman has an interview with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo…

She could be taking on more soon. Looking to dig CNBC out of a long-running ratings slump, while gearing up for a possible assault from the Fox News Channel, CNBC president Mark Hoffman is about to embark on a programing overhaul.

An announcement regarding CNBC morning shows, including changes at flagship pre-market program “Squawk Box,” could come as early as this week, insiders said. Future changes at the business network are expected to involve a new role for Bartiromo.

CNBC and Bartiromo declined to comment on programing changes.
(more…)