CNN announced its Oscar coverage plans this afternoon…

As Hollywood prepares to fete and award the top motion pictures and acting performances of the year, CNN Worldwide plans extensive coverage of the Academy Awards with live reports on its television networks, special online reports and video streams, an hour-long radio program and a special contest on CNN.com.

For Sunday, March 5, the day of the Academy Awards telecast, Headline News offers a special Oscar edition of Showbiz Tonight at 5:30 p.m. with host A.J. Hammer and correspondents Brooke Anderson and Sibila Vargas. The live coverage shifts over to CNN/U.S. at 6 p.m. with “Hollywood’s Gold Rush,” an Oscar red carpet preview also hosted by Anderson, Hammer and Vargas. The program will be simulcast on CNN International. All times Eastern.
(more…)

Stephanie Ramage in The Sunday Paper has a profile of CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta…(via TVNewser)

In the world of television health news, no one else can lay claim to anything even close to Gupta’s popularity. ”Who are Fox’s medical reporters?” asks Sree Sreenavasan, head of the new media department at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. “Do you know? Do you know who the medical reporters at NBC are? Even people who don’t watch news know who Sanjay Gupta is. That says something.”

In general, CNN’s audience share trails that of Fox. CNN clocks into second place among the networks for most of its programming, but viewer-ship for its health coverage, which is tucked in amongst the news, can be hard to gage.

Nonetheless, Gupta’s appeal can’t be denied. From stepping in to help U.S. Marine doctors in Iraq perform brain surgery to covering 2004’s tsunami devastation, to the earthquake in Pakistan last fall and bird flu—on a regular basis, Gupta seems to be everywhere his 64 million unique monthly viewers (meaning those who tune in more than once a day don’t count) would prefer not to be. The hot-spot correspondence combined with the strong, confident voice and impressive medical background are irresistible.

CNN announced this morning that Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has joined CNN’s Weather team…

Reynolds Wolf, a veteran weathercaster and meteorologist with experience across the United States, will join CNN’s weather team, it was announced today by Susan Bunda, senior vice president of news of CNN/U.S. Wolf’s new assignment with the cable news network will begin Monday, March 6.

“In terms of weather, Reynolds has seen it all: Hurricanes in Florida, blizzards in Michigan, windstorms in the heartland and thunderstorms in the Deep South,” Bunda said. “We’re pleased that he can join our expert weather team and report on all of those weather conditions on one network.”

“Providing local weather reports for stations across the country offers considerable enjoyment and challenges for any weathercaster,” Wolf said. “But covering weather all over the United States for a nationwide audience takes such opportunities to an entirely different level. I’m thrilled to be joining CNN’s weather team.”

Late yesterday, the NBC release on Doug Vaughan’s promotion to a Vice President position at NBC News was posted…

NBC News President Steve Capus further strengthened and focused his executive team announcing today that former “Today” supervising producer, Doug Vaughan, has returned to NBC News as a Vice President.

“Over the course of the past couple of months we’ve made a few changes and hires that I think will significantly and very positively impact our overall success and creativity and this announcement is one more reflection of that,” said Capus. “Doug was a critical part of ‘Today’s’ success in the years he was at the show, has continued that in his recent years as part of our West coast operation, and I couldn’t be happier to welcome him back to News.”

In his new role, Vaughan will develop long-form programming and oversee booking efforts that relate to all NBC News programs. In addition to his work with NBC News, he will continue to oversee NBC Entertainment special programming.

CNBC announced this morning that Power Lunch will air a “Business of Hollywood” special March 3rd to tie in with the broadcast of the Oscars that weekend…

Just two days before the Oscars, CNBC’s “Power Lunch” will broadcast live from The Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles for a special “Business of Hollywood” program airing Friday, March 3rd from 12pm - 2pm ET. “Power Lunch” co-anchor Bill Griffeth will be in Los Angeles and co-anchor Sue Herera will be at CNBC Global Headquarters here.

The program will delve into the big business of Hollywood exploring everything from movies that take on social issues and stigmas to what theater owners are doing to lure movie-lovers away from DVD releases and into the theaters. Scheduled guests include Michael Eisner, host of CNBC’s “Conversations with Michael D. Eisner” and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Walt Disney Co. and American film director Richard Donner.

Bruce Feirstein, columnist for The New York Observer and a Hollywood screenwriter, is scheduled to give a preview of the big movies to be released in the next few months, including “The Da Vinci Code” and Gil Cates, Executive Producer of the Oscars telecast, is scheduled to give Griffeth a tour of the Oscars set behind the scenes.

The NY Post’s Michael Starr notes that Shepard Smith will be broadcasting from Mississippi today…

Today/tonight on Fox News Channel: Shepard Smith hosts “Studio B” (3 p.m.) and “Fox Report” (7 p.m.) from his native Mississippi. He’ll be in Pass Christian and Long Beach reporting on how the area has progressed, six months after Hurricane Katrina.

His colleague, Greta Van Susteren, interviews Joran van der Sloot (the Holloway case) in Aruba (10 p.m.).

In a must read, Rebecca Dana in the New York Observer brings up a lot of information unflattering to Nancy Grace and questions the legitimacy of some of Grace’s history as Grace has told it…

Nancy Grace was engaged to a man named Keith Griffin. He was murdered in Georgia. And the man who killed him is serving a life sentence. In that, Ms. Grace’s version lines up with the official records from the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, newspaper articles from the time of the murder, and interviews with many of those involved in the case.

But those same sources contradict Ms. Grace when it comes to other salient facts of the crime and the trial—the facts that form the basis of Ms. Grace’s crusade against an impotent, criminal-coddling legal system.

• Griffin was shot not by a random robber, but by a former co-worker.

• The killer, Tommy McCoy, was 19, not 24, and had no prior convictions.
(more…)

Newshounds notes that Bill O’Reilly fired back at Keith Olbermann last night. As usual, O’Reilly’s response was to attack NBC without mentioning Olbermann by name. However a new twist was added by including NBC President Jeff Zucker. Previously Bob Wright had been the only person O’Reilly had mentioned by name so yesterday’s inclusion of Jeff Zucker should be interpreted as a wratcheting up of O’Reilly’s rhetoric…

Johnny Dollar has the audio of John Gibson from his radio show where he talks about the February ratings. Note to Dollar: Um…what MSNBC taunts? Gibson doesn’t mention any MSNBC taunts…

CLARIFICATION: When I said that Gibson doesn’t mention any MSNBC taunts, I was trying to say that Gibson doesn’t cite any taunts MSNBC has made. He does mention specific taunts CNN has made regarding the ratings but MSNBC has not made any specific taunts against Gibson’s FNC show. And Gibson doesn’t mention any taunts MSNBC has made on his show other than to say MSNBC has taunted them. I say, where’s the MSNBC taunt John that has provoked you to compare the ratings for your show to theirs? I don’t see it. Seems like a non-sequitur to me.

Olbermann has taunted O’Reilly about his “older audience” after O’Reilly mentioned Olbermann’s lower ratings but Olbermann hasn’t said anything about Gibson’s ratings and Gibson doesn’t cite Olbermann’s O’Reilly taunt (or note that O’Reilly started the ratings taunting in response to Olbermann’s continued assault on O’Reilly). In any case Olbermann’s taunting of O’Reilly (and visa versa) has nothing to do with Gibson’s show and his ratings since Countdown doesn’t compete with The Big Story.