P2+ Total Day
FNC -857,000 viewers
CNN - 509,000 viewers
MSNBC - 239,000 viewers
CNBC -169,000 viewers
HLN - 250,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 1,365,000 viewers
CNN- 981,000 viewers
MSNBC - 394,000 viewers
CNBC - 152,000 viewers
HLN - 427,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC- 288,000 viewers
CNN - 176,000 viewers
MSNBC - 104,000 viewers
CNBC - 55,000 viewers
HLN - 120,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 376,000 viewers
CNN - 307,000 viewers
MSNBC - 168,000 viewers
CNBC - 74,000 viewers
HLN- 197,000 viewers
(more…)

CNN announced its coverage plans for the fifth anniversary of 9/11…

CNN will pay tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who died in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as it provides worldwide memorial coverage.

With anchors and correspondents positioned in New York City, Washington D.C. and around the world, CNN will provide comprehensive coverage on Monday, Sept. 11, five years after the attacks. During the coverage, CNN/U.S. will list all of the names of those who died during the crisis, as well as an on-going timeline of events from that day.
(more…)

Here is the transcript of Elaine Jeffs 360 appearance last night…

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: So much about the FLDS remains unknown.

It’s really a closed, secret society in America. We have been trying to understand the life inside the sect for months now.

Our next two guests know what it’s like up close. Elaine Jeffs is Warren Jeffs’ sister. She grew up in the sect with her brother. She — she left. She was 41 years old when she escaped, finally kidnapped some of her kids.

Filmmaker Laurie Allen grew up in a different sect. She, too, broke away, and made a documentary about polygamy called “Banking on Heaven.”

I spoke to them both earlier, in an exclusive interview.
(more…)

The system migration does NOT go well. I’ve been trying to solve a nasty problem for the past five hours and still don’t have a solution. So I decided to format the 2 200 Gig drives and hook the old system back up so I can quickly update the blog. Then back to the war…

Rush and Molloy dish on the fallout…

We told you yesterday how CNN viewers heard anchor Kyra Phillips going to the bathroom and talking girl talk during a live speech by President Bush. Among other things, Phillips called her brother’s wife “a control freak.” Phillips’ in-law, who asked not to be named, tells us the anchor has not yet called to apologize …

In a Slate article on print Journalism, Jack Shafer manages to takes some shots at cable news to buttress an argument that yellow journalism is sustainable…

Campbell cites as one reason behind Hearst’s downfall this 1931 observation from Walter Lippmann that yellow journalism is almost impossible to sustain:

When everything is dramatic, nothing is dramatic. When everything is highly spiced, nothing after a while has much flavor. When everything is new and startling, the human mind just ceases to be startled.

Is that really true? The Hearst tradition of making everything dramatic continues to live large on cable TV. It disgorges oceans of yellow journalism each week in both its news and opinion slots. At CNN, Lou Dobbs pushes the tabloid limits of xenophobia and on the network’s sister channel, Headline News, Nancy Grace specializes in unsolved and weird murders. At MSNBC, the recently demoted Rita Cosby mixes a dumber version of Nancy Grace with whatever trash she can fish off the wires. With the exception of Brit Hume’s program, Fox glows an incandescent yellow at most opportunities.

Although the cable news and opinion shows don’t draw very large numbers—The O’Reilly Factor, the most successful, attracts an average audience of 2 million—they inform the mainstream news agenda in a way that Adolph Ochs wouldn’t approve.

Mediaweek’s Anthony Crupi writes up the August numbers…

CNN continued to enjoy significant ratings increases in August as unrest in the Middle East and a foiled terrorist plot sent viewers scrambling to their TV sets.

According to Nielsen Media Research, CNN was up 21 percent in total viewers in prime versus August 2005, with an average audience of 900,000 tuning in during the month. The news net was also up 25 percent in the target 25-54 demo.

Rival Fox News Channel was down 28 percent in prime, averaging 1.51 million viewers versus 2.09 million during August 2005, a period marked by the landfall of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent destruction of New Orleans. FNC was also down 20 percent in its target demo, dropping from .54 million in August 2005 to .43 million this month.

Despite its ratings decreases, FNC still outdrew CNN by more than a half-million viewers in prime time; moreover, the Fox net boasted nine of the top-10 ranked programs on the month, including the perennial No. 1 finisher The O’Reilly Factor, which drew an average 2.07 million viewers in its 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. time slot.

I’m about to start building a new home system tonight from scratch. This will continue into tomorrow and blogging will be sporadic as a result as I work on migrating everything from my current home system to the new system. Core 2 Duo baby!

TVNewser notes that Hannity & Colmes pulled down a higher Demo number than The O’Reilly Factor for the first time in a while…

Johnny Dollar has the video of Rudi Bakhtiar reporting on Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig’s return to the FNC newsroom yesterday. This clip comes from today’s edition of The Big Story…

CNN’s Chad Myers interviewed the cast of TLC’s Overhaulin’ in front of CNN Center in Atlanta during filming of an upcoming episode featuring a Hummer CNN used during the Iraq War in the Spring of 2003.

P2+ Total Day
FNC - 971,000 viewers
CNN - 595,000 viewers
MSNBC - 243,000 viewers
CNBC - 183,000 viewers
HLN - 266,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 1,738,000 viewers
CNN- 1,077,000 viewers
MSNBC - 334,000 viewers
CNBC - 187,000 viewers
HLN - 525,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC- 310,000 viewers
CNN - 223,000 viewers
MSNBC - 91,000 viewers
CNBC - 65,000 viewers
HLN - 129,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 477,000 viewers
CNN - 339,000 viewers
MSNBC - 151,000 viewers
CNBC - 83,000 viewers
HLN- 235,000 viewers
(more…)

CNN announced that Elaine Jeffs, sister of the just cuptured polygamist Warren Jeffs, will be on Anderson Cooper 360 tonight in an exclusive interview…

Elaine Jeffs, sister of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, talks with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview on tonight’s Anderson Cooper 360. Warren Jeffs, the leader of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), was arrested in Nevada on August 28. Elaine and Warren Jeffs grew up together until Elaine left the church at the age of 41. Jeffs will talk about her brother’s arrest, the church and the reasons she left.

Newsbusters chronicles Fox and Friends spoofing CNN’s open mic gaffe from yesterday…

For those who were not watching Fox News Channel at 6:30am EDT today, ‘Fox and Friends First’ had a little bit of fun with CNN anchor Kyra Phillips’ restroom conversation, inadvertently broadcast live Tuesday during President Bush’s speech in New Orleans.

Making light of Phillips’ gaffe, anchor Kiran Chetry, having returned from a commercial break, was interrupted by an off-air “personal” conversation taking place between fellow F&F anchors Steve Doocy and Mike Jerrick.

The transcript of the F&F skit is behind the cut:

For no particular reason that I can discern, NBC put out a press release this morning crowing about its news division’s online presence in the form of MSNBC.com…

With changes afoot in network television news, one thing that has not changed is NBC News’ dominance online. Not only does NBC News’ website, MSNBC.com, draw nearly 20 million more unique visitors per month than CBSNews.com and ABCNews.com, but it is consistently the first site to provide news consumers with innovative online complements to on-air efforts. For example, since May 2005 MSNBC.com has introduced netcasts of “NBC Nightly News,” “Meet the Press,” and “Today,” blogs including “The Daily Nightly,” and “Baghdad Blog,” video blogs such as “The Early Nightly,” and MSNBC.com originals such as “Rising From Ruin,” the site’s year-long, award-winning look at the recovery after Katrina.

Said Steve Capus, President of NBC News, “MSNBC.com is the premier site for news and information in America. It covers the spectrum, drawing on the unmatched resources of NBC News around the world and is produced in brilliant manner by some of the finest online journalists in the country.”
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GretaWire talks about last night’s interview with Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig. It thanks other news organizations for helping out, praises the FNC team, and gives kudos to Jennifer Griffin…

There were some things I wanted you to hear that we never got to, i.e. all the help other news organizations gave us or offered us. They deserve a “shout out.” While news organizations compete for readers or viewers, this was a time when the rules changed: The goal was a unified one to free two journalists. It was much appreciated.

FOX management deserves a “shout out.” They went without sleep, left no rock unturned to get Steve and Olaf free, which sent a huge message to all of us who work at FOX — not that we doubted FOX management’s commitment to us.

Following up on yesterday’s item, The New York Times’ Allesandra Stanley also notes that MSNBC didn’t cover President Bush’s Katrina speech - opting instead to stay with the Boulder D.A. news conference. Stanley lays the blame for this at the feet of MSNBC’s new GM…

MSNBC stayed on the Ramsey case and ignored the presidential appearance altogether, a decision best explained by the fact that its former on-air legal affairs anchor, Dan Abrams, was recently named general manager.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul J. Gough writes about yesterday’s CNN on air gaffe…

CNN apologized Tuesday after an open mike transmitted an anchor’s bathroom conversation with another woman live over the network as it was carrying President Bush’s speech in New Orleans.

“Live From” anchor Kyra Phillips had apparently left the set around 12:48 p.m. EDT Tuesday for a bathroom break while the news channel carried Bush’s speech marking the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Phillips’ wireless microphone was turned on and picked up about a minute and a half of a muffled conversation she had with an unidentified woman where she apparently talked about her husband, laughed and talked about her brother.

Rush and Molloy have a bit more on the subject…

The mishap had CNN producers cringing.

“I hope it doesn’t look like Kyra made a mistake, because it was actually a technical malfunction, not a human error,” an insider told The News’ Ken Bazinet.

FNC’s website has a write up on Tuesday’s edition of On The Record with Greta Van Susteren which featured an exclusive one hour interview with Steve Centanni, Olaf Wiig, and family members…

“I told them, ‘I need you to tell me about it (Islam),’” Wiig said he told his captors. “ They discussed how the problems of the Muslim world and the west could be solved if the west converted to Islam… then it got sinister,” he said.

“They believed he (Centanni) was CIA, FBI, an informer for the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces)… that he was there as a spy, an American soldier in Iraq,” Wiig said.

“I said, ‘he’s just a journalist… a friend of the Palestinian people,” Wiig said.

“The first thing I said was, ‘this is just great,’” Centanni said, describing the moment the two journalists came to face to face with the gunmen.

“There was no place to get away,” Wiig said. “We were on a narrow street…there was no where to drive.”

P2+ Total Day
FNC - 927,000 viewers
CNN - 538,000 viewers
MSNBC - 254,000 viewers
CNBC -173,000 viewers
HLN - 243,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 1,572,000 viewers
CNN- 956,000 viewers
MSNBC - 258,000 viewers
CNBC - 145,000 viewers
HLN - 518,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC- 313,000 viewers
CNN - 193,000 viewers
MSNBC - 108,000 viewers
CNBC - 69,000 viewers
HLN - 94,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 467,000 viewers
CNN - 292,000 viewers
MSNBC - 127,000 viewers
CNBC - 54,000 viewers
HLN- 213,000 viewers
(more…)

Hoda Osman of ABC’s The Blotter writes about an article in the al Hayat newspaper today that says the Centanni and Wiig were freed after secret negotiations with the U.S. concerning Israeli actions…(via TVNewser)

Last week, the previously unknown group calling itself “The Holy Jihad Brigades” issued a statement demanding the release of all Muslims held in U.S. prisons in return for the release of the two journalists. In fact, the paper reports that the public demand was not serious and that the group’s “real demands” were that the U.S. press Israel to reopen the the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Palestine and cease the shelling of “Palestinian activists’” residences.

According to the report, the mediators contacted a representative of a European country who in turn contacted U.S. and British diplomats. The paper’s sources said in the report that members of a senior FBI delegation, who had arrived in the area a few days earlier, were also involved in the negotiations.

The announcement that the two journalists had converted to Islam as a reason for their release was only a camouflage to conceal the fact that the U.S. had agreed to the hostage-takers’ demands, according to the sources cited in the article. A few days ago the Rafah crossing was reopened for a few hours daily, and the Israeli forces stopped shelling residences of activists in the past few days, noted the paper’s sources.

CNN announced that it will be rebroadcasting “CNN Presents: Katrina Killings” Saturday September 16th and Sunday September 17th at 8pm ET. The special originally aired last Friday as an AC 360 Special.

In the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina, two men died after skirmishes with New Orleans police officers. In a new investigative documentary, CNN Presents: Katrina Killings, correspondent Drew Griffin reports on the clouded circumstances surrounding the deaths of Danny Brumfield and Ronald Madison and whether the New Orleans police officers involved in both cases may have committed murder.

Katrina Killings airs on Saturday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m. and again on Sunday, Sept. 17, at 8 p.m. All times Eastern.

“One year after Hurricane Katrina, our production teams have revealed the facts, spoken for those who cannot and reported where injustices remain,” said Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions.
(more…)

Here is an August year to year comparison amongst the three networks provided by CNN…

(This sheet is referenced in the next blog entry below - Spud)
(more…)

CNN is touting its ratings gains for the month of August and says FNC is declining…

CNN Has Largest Audience Growth in August While FNC Declines

In Prime (M-F) CNN up 40% While FNC is down-10% in P25-54

In August, for the fourth month in a row, CNN has double digit audience gains in both Total Day in both P2+ and P25-54. (FNC is stagnant or in decline).

(see Year to Year comparison sheet in the blog entry above - Spud)

CNN Program Highlights
(more…)

As noted earlier, CNN had a technical gaffe during President Bush’s speech observing the one year anniversary of hurrican Katrina. However, for those like myself who missed it, word is only now starting to circulate about just how big a gaffe this really was…

NewsBusters has the whole thing chronicled including some comments Kyra Phillips made about a sister in law and an obscenity that was uttered…

Phillips: “Yeah. He’s married, three kids, but his wife is just a control freak.”

[unidentified woman #2]: “Kyra.”

Phillips: “Yeah, baby?”

[unidentified woman #2]: “Your mike is on. Turn it off. It’s been on the air.”

CNBC announced it’s coverage plans for the fifth anniversary of 9/11…

As part of the Sept. 11 coverage, “Squawk Box,” CNBC’s signature morning program with anchors Joe Kernen, Becky Quick and Carl Quintanilla, will broadcast 6 AM-9 AM ET from Ground Zero. CNBC also will prominently feature anchors and correspondents who covered the events of that day including anchors Mark Haines and Maria Bartiromo and New York Stock Exchange correspondent Bob Pisani. CNBC Special Contributor Ron Insana, who was literally on the street near the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed, will provide his reflections and perspective.

“CNBC recognizes the significant importance and effect September 11 has had, including on the financial district and the financial professionals who tune into this network for their news,” said Jonathan Wald, Senior Vice President, Business News, CNBC. “On 9/11, CNBC had reporters on the scene, at the NYSE and in the neighborhood, when the planes hit and the buildings collapsed. Now, five years later we plan to analyze how businesses have changed, how politics has changed and how previously driven executives have, in some cases, left high powered careers for activities they find more fulfilling.”

Further, CNBC will have interviews with executives who lived through 9/11 and have now seen the rebirth of the financial district and their companies. CNBC has interviewed the following people for the 9/11 coverage:
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NBC announced its 9/11 coverage plans today. Here’s the MSNBC part…

MSNBC will begin coverage of the 9/11 anniversary on Sunday, September 10, with Chris Matthews anchoring from Ground Zero beginning at 8:00 a.m., ET. A special, live edition of “Hardball with Chris Matthews” will air at 7:00 p.m., featuring an interview with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. All day on September 11, 2006, Matthews will anchor from Ground Zero and MSNBC will carry portions of the “Today” show, as it aired live on the morning of the attacks. In addition, Alison Stewart will report from Ground Zero throughout the day. That evening, several MSNBC primetime programs will telecast from Ground Zero, including “Hardball with Chris Matthews (5:00 and 7:00 p.m., ET), “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” (8:00 p.m., ET) and “Scarborough Country” (9:00 p.m., ET). At 10:00 p.m., ET, MSNBC will present “9/11: The Day That Changed America,” an MSNBC Living History Event, with prominent Americans including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Senator Hillary Clinton, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Robert Redford speaking about where they were on the morning of the attacks and how they think life has changed.

An emailer writes in that FNC and CNN covered President Bush speaking in New Orleans on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. MSNBC, however chose not to interrupt the Boulder D.A. press conference on the John Mark Karr fiasco. Is this accurate? I can’t believe MSNBC would opt not to cover Bush live…

UPDATE: In a subsequent email, the emailer says that CNN had audio trouble during Bush’s speech. Apparently around 12:50 pm ET, viewers could hear someone at CNN (Kyra Phillips?) having an off air conversation….

August 26

P2+ Total Day
FNC - 718,000 viewers
CNN - 489,000 viewers
MSNBC - 289,000 viewers
CNBC - 131,000 viewers
HLN - 212,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 856,000 viewers
CNN- 654,000 viewers
MSNBC - 322,000 viewers
CNBC - a scratch with 111,000 viewers
HLN- 227,000 viewers

25 - 54 Total Day
FNC - 243,000 viewers
CNN- 175,000 viewers
MSNBC - 139,000 viewers
CNBC - 62,000 viewers
HLN- 93,000 viewers

25 - 54 Prime Time
FNC - 217,000 viewers
CNN- 236,000 viewers
MSNBC - 144,000 viewers
CNBC - a scratch with 48,000 viewers
HLN- 56,000 viewers

August 27
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The Huffington Post’s Bob Geiger is the latest person to torch the cable channels for pandering to the JonBenet story…

What is amazing to me is the media circus that has followed this “case” for almost two weeks now without really a shred of proof that anything had truly developed in the 10-year-old mystery. And we’re not just talking about an informational mention on page six or seven of the local newspaper, or a 90-second story buried in the second half of a one-hour newscast.

We’re talking about hour upon hour of coverage, with some cable news networks devoting the entire hour of a 60-minute newscast to a developing story that could very well have turned out to be a lot of noise about nothing. We’re talking about alleged journalists and editors whose judgment made them decide that John Mark Karr’s plane ride from Thailand to the United States, where he sat, who he talked to, what he ate and even what procedure was used to allow him to use the bathroom was their very top story.

All of this without the most basic elements of proof that freshman journalism students taking Reporting 100 are taught to look for.

Unbelievable.

The New York Post’s Don Kaplan writes about the rumors that MSNBC will leave Secaucus…

The buzz was sparked by word that MSNBC’s 10-year lease at its Secaucus headquarters is up for renewal.

But a real-estate source says that the network still has several years to go on the lease, which began when MSNBC launched in 1996.

“There’s really no deadline for them [to move] at the moment,” the source says.

This Jack Dempsey AP photo of John Mark Karr being re-arrested in Colorado got a lot of circulation. I saw it a lot on MSNBC yesterday; Particularly when Rita Cosby was on the air. Karr was being held again because California wanted him held for extradition purposes.

tvnz.co.nz has some new information on the behind the scenes negotiations to free Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig…

It has now been revealed a Christian organisation based in the UK was involved in the negotiations that secured their release.

The Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle East works in Iraq and Palestine with government and religious leaders in hostage negotiations.

President of the foundation, Canon Andrew White, says his organisation negotiated with the kidnappers and eventually located them with the help of Palestinian groups.

John Kasich at the end of The O’Reilly Factor tonight said that Greta Van Susteren will interview Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig tomorrow night on On The Record…

Ratings for August 25, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC - 861,000 viewers
CNN - 522,000 viewers
MSNBC - 237,000 viewers
CNBC -147,000 viewers
HLN - 227,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 1,279,000 viewers
CNN- 737,000 viewers
MSNBC - 340,000 viewers
CNBC - a scratch with 113,000 viewers
HLN - 376,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC- 263,000 viewers
CNN - 172,000 viewers
MSNBC - 103,000 viewers
CNBC - a scratch with 49,000 viewers
HLN - 96,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 307,000 viewers
CNN - 175,000 viewers
MSNBC - 135,000 viewers
CNBC - a scratch with 43,000 viewers
HLN- 120,000 viewers
(more…)