Earlier I had posted what I thought were Wednesday’s numbers and then took them down when it was made aware to me that they weren’t Wednesday’s numbers. After doing some investigation it turned out they were Tuesday’s numbers but for some reason they took a wrong turn on the internet and took nearly a day for them arrive in my email inbox after being sent out Wednesday. So once again, here they are…
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This afternoon’s earlier set of numbers was incorrect. I’m still trying to figure out what went wrong. Here are the correct numbers…

May 24
25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 230,000 viewers
CNN - 88,000 viewers
MSNBC - 110,000 viewers
HLN - 94,000 viewers
CNBC -93,000 viewers

8PM - P2+ (25-54)
O’Reilly Factor - 1,829,000 viewers (266,000)
Paula Zahn Now - 365,000 viewers (58,000)
Countdown with Keith Olbermann - 410,000 viewers (178,000)
Nancy Grace - 355,000 viewers (93,000)
The Apprentice - 191,000 viewers (122,000)

9 PM - P2+ (25-54)
Hannity & Colmes - 1,135,000 viewers (186,000)
Larry King Live - 500,000 viewers (65,000)
Scarborough -288,000 viewers (a scratch with 43,000)
Glenn Beck - 169,000 viewers (77,000)
Mad Money - 172,000 viewers (88,000)

10 PM P2+ (25-54)
On the Record w/Greta Van Susteren- 1,284,000 viewers (237,000)
Anderson Cooper 360 - 654,000 viewers (143,000)
Rita Cosby - 224,000 viewers (108,000)
Nancy Grace - 287,000 viewers (114,000)
Donny Deutsch - 160,000 viewers (70,000)

ICN is hearing that MSNBC may be bringing back Battleground America for the 2006 mid-term elections. For the uninitiated, Battleground America was MSNBC’s campaign coverage of the 2004 election. Spanning 10 months and 26 states, MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing traveled back and forth across the country covering the 2004 saga from the primaries to the November election. In addition to the daily and/or weekly reports, three specials were produced; one covering the Democratic and Republican election efforts respectively and a third “update” special just before the November election. I thought it was the most ambitious coverage attempted on broadcast or cable in 2004.

Still nothing definite on the whos, hows, and wheres of how this will play out this election cycle, if it happens. But since CNN and FNC are already making moves in preparation for the 2006 mid-terms, I decided to toss out what I was hearing…

CNN correspondent Alan Chernoff won a Deadline Club award the network announced today…

CNN correspondent Allan Chernoff won a Deadline Club award for best feature reporting in television for “Auschwitz Survivor,” a deeply personal story about his mother’s ordeal as a child in the Nazi death camp.

The Deadline Club, which is the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, presented its annual awards during a ceremony on Tuesday, May 23, at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. CBS anchor Bob Schieffer delivered a keynote address and presented the awards.

In awarding Chernoff, the judges wrote: “Historic, heartfelt. Personal diary page from his family’s experiences in Auschwitz told with authority and compassion but not overly emotional. It maintained objectivity, clarity by letting good story telling convey the emotion with the human faces of the survivors.”

The Liberal blogosphere is having kittens over a map that aired on Lou Dobbs Tonight which was traced back to a group considered in some circles as a White Supremacist organization. Here is the map courtesy of Media Matters…
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Page Six dishes…

VANITY Fair is playing hardball with potential cover subjects - if they don’t spill enough beans, they won’t get the cover. For instance, the glossy pulled Natalie Portman - who gave a nice but dull interview - from the cover two months ago in favor of “Desperate Housewives” star Teri Hatcher - who let them in on the bombshell secret she had been sexually molested. Insiders say Nicole Richie was supposed to have the cover this month, but despite confessing about her weight issues and letting a reporter talk to her shrink she refused to discuss her feud with Paris Hilton - so she was replaced on the cover by Anderson Cooper. Other subjects who lost the cover? Vince Vaughn (who supposedly didn’t want to discuss Jennifer Aniston) and Britney Spears (who refused to talk about her problematic marriage). A rep for Vanity Fair said, “We don’t discuss covers.”

Rush and Molloy dish a quote from Anderson Cooper’s Yale graduation speech…

Anderson Cooper used his Yale commencement speech to bolster his studliness. “The only thing about high school I remember is my senior prom,” the CNN anchor said. “If what I remember is true, it is very possible that some of you are my children, especially you with the blue eyes and freakishly gray hair” …

NBC announced today that it will begin offering selected news related programs, including MSNBC and CNBC programs, on ITunes…

NBC News announced this morning that beginning today, America’s number one news organization is offering a collection of video news and documentary programming for purchase and download from the iTunes Music Store. Programming will include not only some of the best news and documentary programs and great television moments from NBC News, but also new programs produced especially for iTunes.

“Partnering with iTunes on the news side - in addition to what we’ve already done on the entertainment side - makes perfect sense,” said Jeff Zucker, Chief Executive Officer, NBC Universal Television Group. “Partnering the leading brand in video downloads with the undisputed leader of news and information is a winning combination, and we are thrilled to be further extending our relationship with iTunes in this unique way.”
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The Post-Standard’s William LaRue has a Q&A with HLN’s Glenn Beck…

Q. You have been asking people to review your performance (during the TV show’s segments featuring viewer feedback), and you talked about the shakiness of the first night.

A. “Well, what I’m so sick of are plastic phonies. . . . (It’s not) like I actually believe that people in the country are going to watch my first episode, my first time ever on television, and go, ‘That guy’s fabulous.’ It was my first day on television. Of course, it was rocky.

“But we’ve made some great progress. Last week, I really started to feel that ‘OK, we’re finding our sea legs here.’ It’s starting to have the right balance, the right attitude, and it’s becoming more comfortable every day.”

It seems to have slipped under everyone’s radar screen but Tuesday night Countdown beat Paula Zahn Now in both the P2+ and the P25-54 Demo.

(ratings via TVNewser)

P2+
Countdown - 419,000
Paula Zahn Now - 385,000

P25-54
Countdown - 111,000
Paula Zahn Now - 103,000

Zahn’s show has already lost its West Coast repeat. Countdown beat Zahn in the Demo in Q1. Now on Tuesday it beat it both in P2+ and The Demo. The future is not looking bright for the show and the kibitzers are going to start making bets on how much longer CNN will stand by and watch Countdown chip away at the show before it acts.

As mentioned yesterday, Tony Snow was on Lou Dobbs Tonight. Transcript follows…and I apologize in advance for all the double spacing after the jump. The transcript wound up displaying that way in the blog’s software which can happen on occasion. Normally I fix that but this one is just too long…

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush’s top political adviser Karl Rove today went over to Capitol Hill trying to drum up support for, quote, “comprehensive immigration reform,” end quote.

The president’s push for illegal immigration legislation is only one of the challenges, of course, facing the Bush White House and indeed the nation. The war in Iraq increasingly unpopular, the president’s approval ratings have plunged to an all-time low for his presidency and nearly three-quarters of all Americans surveyed say the country is headed in the wrong direction.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow joins me now from the White House lawn.

Tony, good to have you here.

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good to be here. Thanks, Lou.

DOBBS: Let me say, if I may at the outset, because I have been particularly critical of this administration’s policies over the year there has been a — I have been blackballed by the White House and — for about four years now, because I’ve said things like radical Islamists when referring to the enemies in the war on terror, criticizing many of the president’s policies.

And I just want to compliment you in your early tenure as press secretary for having the fortitude, the intelligence and the class to break that embargo and come on here and talk.

(LAUGHTER)

SNOW: Oh, Lou, don’t get me into situations like this. It’s just a delight to be here. Thanks for having me.

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