AdWeek’s Kathleen Sampey writes about Steve Dworin filing suit yesterday against Donny Deutsch…

Steve Dworin, a former president of Deutsch Inc., is suing the agency and its two top executives for $56 million plus damages, alleging slander, libel and breach of contract.

A 32-page document was filed March 30 in Superior Court in Union County, New Jersey, and names chairman Donny Deutsch, whom Dworin calls “emotionally unstable” and “ego-maniacal.” The document also implies that Deutsch abused drugs. In addition, it names agency CEO Linda Sawyer as a defendant.

Adrants weighs in on the suit…

The suit proves to be juicy with Dworin calling Deutsch “emotionally unstable” and ego-manial,” claiming Deutsch used drugs, claiming Deutsch was given the agency by his father “on a silver platter with a silver spoon,” implying Deutsch was jealous of Dworin for making the agency successful, angry that Deutsch said hiring Dworin was “his biggest professional mistake” and claiming Deutsch overslept, missed meetings and shirked his responsibilities.

The Des Moines Register wraps up yesterday’s Fit Nation program at Iowa State…

Gupta applauded current programs in Iowa that emphasize health and fitness, citing events like the Iowa Games and Lighten Up Iowa. The programs can be models for other states, he said.

“Fit Nation” hopes to find similar successful ideas on college campuses, which have historically been sites of great change, Gupta said. The hope is also that the campaign can help instill healthy habits in students, who are in the midst of forming lifelong habits. Gupta said his program is also focusing on young people because they will eventually bear the brunt of the rising financial costs of obesity.

Former (?) WSTM reporter Dan Kloeffler has been appearing on MSNBC sporadically throughout the week. I’d heard that MSNBC was going to be hiring someone so I guess Kloeffler is it. He’ll be anchoring the 4:30-5 pm shift on MSNBC this weekend…

Michael Kinsley in a Washington Post Op-Ed and in a different version on Slate opines about how journalism is becoming less objective and how that may not be a bad thing…

And now on CNN and elsewhere, you can see other anchors struggling to act like human beings, with varying degrees of success. Only five months before anointing Cooper as CNN’s new messiah (nothing human is alien to Anderson Cooper; nothing alien is human to Lou Dobbs), Klein killed CNN’s long-running debate show “Crossfire,” on the grounds that viewers wanted information and not opinions. Klein said he agreed “wholeheartedly” with Jon Stewart’s widely discussed and uncharacteristically stuffy remark that “Crossfire” and similar shows were “hurting America” with their occasionally raucous displays of emotional commitment to a political point of view.

But that is just a personal gripe (I worked at “Crossfire” for six years). More important is that Klein is right in sensing, on second thought, that objectivity is not a horse to bet the network on. Or the newspaper either.

Thailand’s The Nation (not to be confused with the U.S. The Nation) reports that a CNN journalist apologized at a reception for the French Foreign Minister for remarks made by CNN’s Kyra Phillips… (via TVNewser)

A CNN journalist in Paris on Wednesday described as “regrettable” a comparison made by the US chain’s anchor between jobs protests in Paris and the Tiananmen Square uprising in Beijing.

“Unfortunately I have to say that this reference to Tiananmen was regrettable,” said Chris Burns during a reception with French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.

This reminds me of the start of the Iraq War when “Shock and Awe” began and Brian Williams on MSNBC said it was like the bombing of Dresden in World War II. I heard him say it and thought “Uh oh…”. Sure enough, Williams got chewed out (though not by name) by Donald Rumsfeld in a Pentagon briefing the next day when Rumsfeld complained about the Dresden comparison…

GretaWire has details on the new set piece…

We do have news in our D.C. bureau for the show. Two nights ago I was shown the mock-up of our new desk on the D.C. set. We are changing the shape and enlarging the desktop so that from time to time we can have a third guest on the set with us. Currently, if we have three guests in D.C., we have to put one “out to pasture” in another studio. It might seem a simple task to add a third guest but believe it or not, it is not. It requires not only a new desk, new camera shots and angles, but also a re-lighting of the show. The desktop is not cheap either. I am told that we might get the desk within three weeks.

Yesterday I posted an event schedule for Pipeline’s free view day. There’s been a change to that schedule. Fit Nation will be streamed live at 5pm ET and not 4pm ET…

Broadcasting and Cable’s John Eggerton scoops that Zain Verjee will be moving from CNN International to CNN…

CNN is expected to announce Friday that Zain Verjee, Atlanta-based anchor for CNN International (CNNI), will be leaving that post come Friday to join the mothership.

CNN is said to see a rising star in Verjee, who co-anchors the Your World Today CNNI broadcast that CNN airs at noon-1 p.m.. She has also reported international news for CNN’s afternoon Situation Room, where she has fans in host Wolf Blitzer and commentator Jack Cafferty.

UPDATE: CNN issued a release on this today…
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The LA Times’ Scott Collins writes about “Conversations with Michael Eisner”’s less than auspicious start…

CNBC, owned by NBC Universal, has long struggled with its evening lineup, with previous talk shows starring magazine editor Tina Brown, tennis great John McEnroe and comedian Dennis Miller failing to build audiences.

But the Eisner debut was grim even by the network’s standards. Its lead-in, a repeat of comedian Howie Mandel’s game show “Deal or No Deal” from NBC, drew 518,000 viewers. That means that fewer than 1 out of 5 “Deal” viewers stuck around to see Eisner, an unusually low ratio.

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be appearing on KCCI 8’s Morning newscast Thursday from 6-7 am where he will answer viewer email questions. I’m assuming this is some sort of tie in with his Fit Nation program that is happening tomorrow…

CNN has made available its schedule of (known) events tomorrow that will be covered in the freeview of Pipeline…

Live news conferences and events throughout the day include: (All times Eastern)

· 8 a.m. – U.S. Military Briefing from Baghdad, Iraq;

· 8:30 a.m. – Sago Mine Tragedy survivor news conference;

· 9:30 a.m. – The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence press conference;
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The New York Post’s Holly M. Sanders pans the CNBC show…

Eisner clearly liked being in front of the camera, and his guest list, which included domestic diva Martha Stewart and Sony chief Howard Stringer, shows he still has plenty of connections to the media and business elite.

But as interviewer, Eisner showed little willingness to push his guests for responses that go beyond a press release. And when he did, he had difficulty allowing them enough time to answer.

Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman notes CNBC’s Squawk Box Fantasy Portfolio Challenge and wonders if CNBC is damaging its image as a serious business channel…

Sadly, gimmicks of varying types seem to mean a lot to CNBC, a unit of General Electric, these days. Consider the game show-like sweepstakes and former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s new talk show, to name two. Eisner’s CNBC show had its debut on March 28.

This is how the contest works: CNBC says it will spot contestants “a cool million in ‘Squawk Bucks’ to invest over eight weeks, beginning on April 4. You buy, sell or hold the stocks of your choice.”

Now here comes the big hook: “You can even add bonus points to your portfolio by watching Squawk Box on CNBC every morning.”

Yuck.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tim Cuprisin and the LA Times’ Matea Gold both write about Countdown’s demo victory over Paula Zahn Now…

Cuprisin:

Interestingly, Olbermann’s growth (he’s up 41% in the demographic) comes in the middle of a campaign regularly ripping O’Reilly.

With MSNBC’s ratings up, that means he’s likely to continue the offensive.

Gold:

The MSNBC show drew an average of 164,000 viewers in that demographic to CNN’s 156,000, as Olbermann, who has been engaged in a colorful feud with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, enjoyed an increase of 25% in total viewers compared with this point last year.

The New York Times’ Bill Carter and Jacques Steinberg write about Lou Dobbs and his Immigration crusade…

The nation’s most prominent opponent of current immigration policy began his day yesterday on the “Today” show on NBC, debating a Hispanic defender of illegal immigrants. He moved on to “American Morning” on CNN to denounce a bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday as “an amnesty program.”

Lou Dobbs, the CNN anchor, a central figure in the debate over immigration policy.
By nightfall he was on a plane headed to Mexico, where he intended to assess critically the planned discussions on the issue between President Bush and President Vicente Fox of Mexico.

This central figure in the increasingly fractious debate over future immigration policy was not a senator or congressman, nor even a lobbyist on either side of the issue. It was instead, a television news anchor, Lou Dobbs of CNN.

Rory O’Connor on AlterNet interviews Jonathan Klein over Iraq War coverage. It’s a good read…

“We’re being very aggressive in covering the war at the moment,” Klein began. “We have lots of people with lots of expertise on the ground in Baghdad now. Generally, I think we’re doing a good job of daily reporting, and we also have the capacity to do in-depth reporting and documentaries. In fact we’ve aired five or six docs and specials already, including an hourlong look at WMD, two hours on how war is going, and so forth.”

While praising his own, Klein was critical of his critics, saying, “It’s naive for otherwise intelligent people to assume CNN has any role other than reporting the facts. They may oppose the war, but the conduct of the war is simply not up to CNN.

Klein hits a home run in my opinion with this passage…

“The vast majority of Americans do not feel the way your readers do, and do not express those feelings to us,” he stated flatly. “In fact the number of people watching CNN today is higher than 10 years ago. There’s no mass disaffection with either CNN or the MSM. The reality is that every week 66 million American get their news from watching CNN — more than any other news network — so we must be satisfying their needs for information. But we can’t cover everything, and we can’t please every fraction of the audience all the time.

“You’re talking about a highly partisan and definitely minority point of view,” the CNN/US president reiterated. “It’s really just a certain segment of extremists who don’t see their particular point of view reflected enough. And as I said, we hear similar complaints from extreme poles of both right and left.”

CNN is noting the network’s gains during the first quarter. It’s calling Headline News the “fastest-growing cable news net” in primetime.

HLN grew its M-F 8-11p Q1 2006 audience by +55% P2+ (405K vs. 261K) and +36% in P25-54 (141K vs. 104K) over Q1 2005

CNN is touting its Q1 highlights…

Lou Dobbs Tonight at 6pm gained +24% P2+ (665K vs. 535K) and +3% P25-54 (156K vs. 152K) over Q1 2005

Anderson Cooper 360 10pm-midnight block was up +11% P2+ (581K vs. 525K) and +14% P25-54 (203K vs. 178K) over Q1 2005

The Situation Room at 4pm was up +17% P2+ (536K vs. 458K) and +22% in P25-54 (137K vs. 112K) over Q1 2005

And Headline News’ Q1 Highlights…
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CNN announced that Anderson Cooper will be broadcasting from Nogales, Arizona tomorrow night in conjunction with the Immigration Summit taking place in Mexico.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Anderson Cooper 360° broadcasts from Nogales, Ariz., on Wednesday, March 29, to report live from the base of the most active border patrol operation in the United States. Border patrol officers from that location stopped as many as 1,000 illegal immigrants on Monday, March 27, alone.

The broadcast airs on the first day of a three-nation summit in Cancun, Mexico, where U.S. President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet to discuss immigration, trade and border control.

Cooper and his program have contributed to CNN’s leading coverage on U.S. border issues. Last February, Cooper broadcast live from one of the largest smuggling tunnels discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border.

MSNBC issued a release today celebrating Countdown with Keith Olbermann’s Demo numbers for the quarter which beat Paula Zahn Now on CNN and Hardball’s almost beating of The Situation Room in the Demo.

Rhetorical Question of the Day: Which played a bigger role in Countdown’s success: CNN’s struggles, the Olympics, or Bill O’Reilly responding to Olbermann’s taunts which resulted in the media picking up on the feud?

This is the first Quarterly ratings related release from MSNBC that I’ve seen in quite some time and it’s a lengthy one…

According to Nielsen Media Research data, MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” (M-F 8-9 pm ET) finished the first quarter ahead of CNN’s Paula Zahn in the key 25-54 year-old demographic (”the demo”). This marks MSNBC’s first quarterly primetime victory over CNN in the demo in almost five years (2Q01 MSNBC Investigates beat CNN at 8 p.m. ET). “Countdown” posted big gains in both the demo and total viewers, while CNN and Fox News suffered double digit drops in the advertiser-friendly demographic. “Countdown” ended the quarter with an average of 164,000 (+41%) (all comparisons are vs. 1st quarter 2005) in the demo and 404,000 total viewers (+25%). CNN averaged 158,000 in the demo (-33%) and 632,000 in total viewers (-9%) and Fox News averaged 450,000 in the demo (-24%) and 2,280,000 in total viewers (-5%).

March was a very strong month for “Countdown” in the 25-54 demographic, with the program scoring a decisive victory over CNN. For March, “Countdown” averaged 184,000 viewers in the demo (+63% vs. March 05) and 430,000 total viewers (+28%). CNN averaged 141,000 in the demo (-43%) and 587,000 total viewers (-18%). Fox News averaged 415,000 in the demo (-23%) and 2,266,000 total viewers (-2%).
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NBC announced today that Adam Jones has been named as the new CFO of NBC News…

Jones, whose appointment is effective immediately, will report to both NBC Universal Television Group Executive Vice President and CFO, Howard Averill and NBC News President, Steve Capus.

“As News Division CFO, Adam will play a key role in helping us navigate through challenges of the changing news environment,” said Averill. “His proven ability to manage complex projects and deadlines coupled with his proactive problem solving approach makes him a terrific addition to this team.”

“I am thrilled to welcome Adam to the News division,” said Capus. “With a continual emphasis on growth and digital expansion, coupled with the demands of our day-to-day and long-term news coverage, this is a critical position, and Adam brings impressive credentials and expertise that will be invaluable.”

The NY Post’s David Hinckley writes about the incident and other Hannity items (Did you know he’s appearing on Broadway tonight?)…

“Sean is driven to succeed like no one I’ve ever known,” says Boyce. “There may be people out there who have as much talent, but no one who works harder or has more focus.”

Boyce says he saw those qualities when he brought Hannity to WABC in 1997. Today he’s on more than 500 stations, with Talkers magazine estimating that in an average week, more than 12.5million people tune him in. Among radio hosts, he trails only Rush Limbaugh.

The “Hannity and Colmes Show” is an anchor at Fox News, he’s written several best-selling books, and of course he has acquired both admirers and detractors.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul J. Gough wrties about “the Mad one” and his CNBC show…

“Mad Money” has brought some buzz to CNBC’s traditionally lackluster after-market-close lineup. In the year since its debut last March, “Mad Money” has improved upon the viewership of “Bullseye,” the show it replaced at 6 p.m. “Mad Money” averaged 252,000 viewers and 82,000 in the adults 25-54 demographic at 6 p.m. for the quarter, compared with “Bullseye’s” 99,000 viewers and 36,000 in the demo. It’s a somewhat similar story in its repeats at 9 p.m. and midnight EST.

That’s still far below what’s on Fox News Channel and CNN, and it falls behind such CNBC shows as “Closing Bell,” “Power Lunch” and “Street Signs.” And it has even shown weakness in recent months with a 24% decline year-to-year in March in total viewers and a 29% drop in the demo in March compared with the same period last year.

Lou Dobbs will be anchoring his program from Cancun, Mexico for three days starting tomorrow in conjunction with a summit on Immigration CNN announced today…

Lou Dobbs will anchor from the three-nation summit in Cancun, Mexico, where U.S. President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet to discuss immigration, trade and border control.

In a three-night broadcast beginning Wednesday, March 29, Lou Dobbs Tonight will report on news from the summit as well as headlines from around the world for “Broken Borders, Live from Cancun.” For nearly two years, Dobbs and Lou Dobbs Tonight have provided leading reports on issues involving the U.S. border.

Tucker Carlson will be appearing on Eric Kuhn’s Hamilton College Radio show on WHCL FM on Thurdsay March 30th at 3 pm ET. If you’re out of range you can listen to the show’s simulcast on the WHCL web site. Or you can catch a replay on Kuhn’s own site.

Now that Matt Lauer got his carefully orchestrated exclusive with Michael Schiavo on the air it appears that Keith Olbermann will finally get his chance to air the interview he had a long time ago but had taken away from him (for a history of that, see this). MSNBC issued a release today on tonight’s interview…

Michael Schiavo, whose brain-damaged wife Terri was at the center of a heavily publicized end-of-life battle, spoke with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann in his first interview in nearly a year. In this cable exclusive interview, which will air on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” tonight (8-9 pm ET), Schiavo discusses in detail the politics surrounding his late wife Terri’s case, the videotape of Terri that was broadcast across countless newscasts, and his feelings toward Terri’s parents and siblings and the politicians who worked toward keeping her on life support. He also discusses the work he plans to do with his political action committee, “Terri’sPAC.com.”

The full interview is apparently not being broadcast according to the release. Makes sense since it refers to something no longer valid (Schiavo’s interview with Olbermann being his first TV interview in a year which would have been the case had NBC News not spiked the interview because of Lauer’s upcoming interview) The full interview is included in the release.

As noted late last night, Entertainment Weekly has labeled the O’Reilly/Olbermann fracass as its “Feud Of The Week” in its March 31st print edition. Notes EW’s Gilbert Cruz…

Ratings-wise, Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly is delivering a trouncing to his MSNBC rival Keith Olbermann. But when it comes to childish on-air behavior, the pugnacious Irishman just might have a worthy rival.

The piece breaks down the two show hosts’ antics into the categories of Opening Volleys, Other Beefs (with other people), Height of Absurdity, and Lowest Blow (Olbermann telling Colbert he’d rather have people invest their money in Enron stock than waste it on calling up O’Reilly’s radio show/O’Reilly’s web petition to have NBC fire Olbermann by bringing back Phil Donahue).

EW’s verdict on the winner?

Olbermann. In a TV smackdown, it’s better to be the instigator - one with the quicker wit and better writers. Plus, he’s on the same side as Clooney.

Although it launched yesterday, today CNN issued a release announcing CNN.com’s new layout. CNN also announced that to celebrate this, Pipeline will be available free of charge on Thursday…

CNN.com today announced the launch of a new, expanded home page designed to offer users easier and faster access to more news and information than ever before.

“This new home page presentation provides quicker, easier access to our extensive offering of news, video, podcasts and other multimedia packages,” said Mitch Gelman, senior vice president and executive producer of CNN.com. “The design also creates new ways to align our efforts with CNN’s broadcast networks, clearly presents both our free video and our premium CNN Pipeline live video service, and offers more placement opportunities for our advertisers.”

The changes include placing the main site navigation bar at the top of the home page, providing easier access to general content as soon as users visit CNN.com. The new design makes a clearer distinction between CNN.com’s offering of free video and that of CNN Pipeline, a premium on-demand broadband video news service which features up to four simultaneous live feeds. The changes also provide “Most Popular” tabs enabling users to click directly to the most viewed articles and videos on the site. Finally, a wider screen format allows for more content “above the fold” and creates prominent eye-catching ad placement opportunities.
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Johnny Dollar has the video of Sean Hannity on Fox and Friends relaying his encounter with actor and liberal activist Alec Baldwin…

The New York Times’ David Carr has an interview with the host of CNBC’s newest show, Michael Eisner… (via TVNewser)

“I do not miss the spotlight,” he said. The idea for the show came from Mark Hoffman, president of CNBC, who called with an offer after seeing Mr. Eisner interview Barry Diller, chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp, as a substitute host on “The Charlie Rose Show.”

“I am the accidental talk show host,” Mr. Eisner said. “I am not booking myself into Vegas or anything like that, but when they called, I thought that this would be an interesting way to keep my fastball.”

In a format that prizes an ability to emulate warmth and humanity, Mr. Eisner would seem an odd choice. But Barbara Walters, who knows both the medium and Mr. Eisner, says she believes his new role is not so farfetched.

“I think Michael has several important things going for him,” Ms. Walters wrote in an e-mail message. “He is at ease on the air. He has a sense of humor and can give and take. I have seen it when he’s been on ‘The View.’ ”

The Florida Times-Union’s Bridget Murphy writes about the murder of Sarah Whitlock and how the cable nets covered that case more than other murders at the time…(via FTVLive)

The Whitlock case had classic elements cable news shows look for when planning programming, said Amy Mitchell, associate director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. The Washington-based nonprofit agency analyzes media content.

Cable news focuses on stories that will “grab eyeballs,” where a reporter can give frequent updates from the scene.

“Quick, easy, dramatic. We’ve seen that over and over in cable news,” Mitchell said.

Shepard Smith will be anchoring Studio B and The Fox Report from Isreal today and tomorrow to cover the upcoming Israeli elections…

Anthony Crupi in Mediaweek writes about Johnson & Johnson being signed by CNN to be the exclusive sponsor for its “Welcome to the Future” segment…

As part of an ongoing effort to create additional programming environments for its advertisers, CNN has signed Johnson & Johnson to be the exclusive sponsor of Welcome to the Future, a showcase examining how technology is changing all aspects of American life that will run as a regular interstitial feature as well as an hour-long quarterly special in prime time.

The Paris News’ Charles Richards covers CNN reporter Jim Bitterman’s speech to the Paris Texas Rotary Club…

Even after moving from NBC to CNN, which resulted in his being based in Paris, he still covered the pope, because CNN had no correspondent in Rome at the time.

He has covered a wide range of international events, including the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Gulf War and the Middle East peace process and U.S. deployment in Somalia. He received a national news Emmy Award for his coverage of the 1988 Sudan famine. He’s also covered royal weddings and coronations and Princess Diana’s fatal car crash in Paris.

“It has been an amazing career for me, and surprisingly, because it is not anything like I anticipated when I started out in the business,” he said, noting that his worst grades in college were in French.

Variety’s Peter Bart looks at what the political climate could possibly do to FNC’s revenue from ads…

Support for the Iraq adventure is waning sharply along with the President’s popularity, and the upcoming Congressional elections will surely exacerbate the political divide. These trends may enhance the loyalty of Fox’s hardcore audience, but middle-of-the-roaders could peel away. Nervous advertisers may thus start looking for more clout in big cities and on the two coasts.

Seems a bit thin to me…

When Bill O’Reilly started fighting back at the end of January in the feud between Keith Olbermann and himself, I argued that it could blow up in his face because it would draw even more attention to the spat from areas which would not normally be paying attention to a one sided Olbermann only spat. It appears my appraisal was accurate. Entertainment Weekly has now chronicled the Olbermann/O’Reilly feud. (via TVSquad)

In the print edition only: Ken Tucker reviews Batman Beyond and Justice League, and there’s a handy guide to the Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly (EW picks Olbermann as the winner so far).