It’s a slow news day so far so here are last weekend’s numbers. MSNBC’s live news expansion so far has not caused people to switch over from HLN even though what’s presented on MSNBC from 12-4 on weekends is far more dynamic and interesting than anything canned HLN can churn out during that time.

Saturday

Total Day P2+
FNC 848,000
CNN 465,000
HLN 239,000
MSNBC 228,000

Total Day P25-54
FNC 217,000
CNN 153,000
HLN 94,000
MSNBC 90,000
(more…)

CNN announced to day that Kelli Arena will host a one hour special on Crystal Meth for CNN’s Radio affiliates…

“The Rise of Crystal Meth” will air Thursday, Jan. 26, from 2-3 p.m. and will be produced by supervising producer Sherri Maksin. All times Eastern.

Arena, making her CNNRadio debut, will discuss efforts to combat the spread of crystal meth, what federal and state law enforcement agencies call America’s most dangerous drug. Her guests will include Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) who has introduced a bill to move cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, the ingredient used to cook meth, behind store counters in an effort to curb the meth epidemic.

Arena will also interview a former addict who was hooked on the drug for nearly a decade and the social worker responsible for taking the addict’s children away from her. Other scheduled guests include DEA agent Doug Coleman and Tennessee Judge Seth Norman, who established the country’s first live-in drug court, a rehabilitation facility where meth-addicted inmates reside instead of going to traditional prison.

Last night on Anderson Cooper 360, Susan Candiotti did a report on collision fires that have occurred with certain Ford models…

CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti interviewed families of victims of Ford fuel tank fires, a lawyer who prosecuted one of these cases and the foreman of a jury which ultimately ruled against Ford, awarding nearly $44 million. Ford has appealed the case, claiming the company did not get a fair trial.

According to CNN’s reporting, the Ford Motor Company designed and manufactured a shield that has reduced the incidence of fires when the vehicles are hit from behind. Despite a number of deaths, the shield has been installed only on police vehicles and only recently has been made available to limousine manufacturers. Ford says the $100 shield is not necessary for so-called “civilian” vehicles, since the vehicles are not used like police cars, which are often stopped adjacent to moving traffic. CNN’s reporting shows that while Ford says vehicle owners may go to a local dealer and pay to have a fuel tank shield kit installed, Ford has not alerted owners about the shield. The transcript follows below.
(more…)

did not give me a virus warning this morning. Hopefully whatever was causing it has been fixed.

After using them fleetingly at the start of the Noon hour, MSNBC used them as much as possible after The President’s speech for the rest of the 12-4 block. They were on just about any time video wasn’t running on the screen. The camera was fixed in the same location and never changed, not even to zoon in or out unless it was to toss to the Weather Center, for the entire 3pm hour. I can’t see MSNBC’s viewers tuning in for long periods for such a stagnant visual.

Whatever in the world happened to Jeff Zucker’s “Spice things up!” mantra? Flashy crawl aside, this wheel format is a major step in the opposite direction. I’m not talking about the new windows, which in and of themselves aren’t bad. I’m talking about the news behind the windows. My local newscast is more interesting than what I saw today. Blomberg News, Headline News, All News Channel…MSNBC from 12-4…what’s the difference? Someone seriously needs to rethink this approach…there must be better ways, less damaging to your reputation as a competitor with CNN and FNC, to deal with a cutback in your budget.

Alternet.org’s Cenk Uygur thinks Liberals have a stacked deck against them on cable news. Funny how he lumps Chris Mathews in with the Conservatives. I present this not so much as an indictment of cable news’ obsession with all things Conservative as the author seems to feel, but instead as an example of how the different political spectrums can view the mainstream…(via MediaChannel.org)

Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Joe Scarborough, Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, John Gibson and Neil Cavuto versus Keith Olbermann wasn’t imbalanced enough for cable news stations, so CNN just made the bold move of hiring THREE MORE CONSERVATIVES!

How do you like that for fair and balanced?

And this is being generous by counting Olbermann as someone on the left, when he makes no claim to speak for liberals or even to being political. This is also not counting Wolf Blitzer, who hasn’t met a Republican talking point he didn’t want to make out with.

Two weeks ago CNN announced they were hiring Bill Bennett. Then they doubled down (pun intended Bill) by hiring the loathsome Glenn Beck. Now, they just finished off the hat trick by hiring former Republican Congressmen from Oklahoma, J.C. Watts.

It’s sad to see how clueless the people at CNN are about this. After all their efforts at finding new programming, their genius move was to hire more conservative hosts? Very, very bold. That should really set you apart from the pack.