TVNewser has the numbers on CNN’s Broken Government specials last week and notes that they’re up vs. the regular 8pm programming. This may be true, however I think MSNBC might disagree that the specials’ success, at least at 8pm, is “indisputable” since on Friday Countdown beat Broken Government in both P2+ and the Demo at 8pm, beat CNN Presents in the Demo Thursday, and was competitive with Broken Government in the Demo on Tuesday, and CNN Presents on Wednesday.

Bragging rights aside, I would say it is “indisputable” that CNN’s specials last week brought in more viewers than normally tune in at that time period…

Here is the October program ranker…
(more…)

MultiChannel News writes about Shepard Smith’s “You Decide 2006″ Tour as well as the rest of FNC’s election night coverage…

Shepard Smith will kick off Fox News Channel’s midterm-election coverage Tuesday night in Escondido, Calif., part of a five-state tour through Monday night.

The anchor of The Fox Report and Studio B will begin Fox News’ You Decide 2006 election coverage at 7 p.m. (EST) in California on Halloween night before making stops in Overland Park, Kan.; Chesterfield, Mo.; and Germantown, Tenn., in that time slot Wednesday-Friday, respectively.

Smith will conclude with live editions of The Fox Report and Studio B, featuring interviews with important local newsmakers, Nov. 6 in Patterson, N.J.

Dan Abrams sent out an email to MSNBC’s staff this afternoon concerning the October numbers…

Abrams, Dan (NBC Universal, MSNBC)
To: @MSNBC Everyone
Subject: Congrats
Sent: 10/31/2006 2:52 PM

I want to congratulate everyone on what was a fantastic month of October for us across the board. Our editorial and technical performance was top notch, and our viewers have recognized that hard work. Not only did MSNBC have its best ratings for the full day since Hurricane Katrina, but we were up 35% from this time last year in the key demo (adults age 25-54) and up 14% among total viewers. Competitvely, it was our best performance since April of 2003!

In Primetime (7p-2a), we were up 37% in the demo, the most growth of any cable channel, and 23% in total viewers. Dayside (9a-6p) was up 30% in the demo and 14% in total viewers while CNN and FXNC were both down. Imus has also been on a roll, up 80% from a year ago in the key demo, his best numbers since April ‘03.

We should all be proud of this progress. More important, as we head into this important election, I am convinced it’s just the beginning. Thanks to everyone and let ’s keep it up!

Imus split the difference with American Morning Monday; beating it in the Demo but losing to it in Total Viewers. O’Reilly was very strong for FNC with 2.5 million viewers…

Cable News Ratings for October 27, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 840,000 viewers
CNN – 442,000 viewers
MSNBC – 276,000 viewers
CNBC – 168,000 viewers
HLN – 164,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,691,000 viewers
CNN – 827,000 viewers
MSNBC – 490,000 viewers
CNBC – 126,000 viewers
HLN – 250,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 298,000 viewers
CNN – 156,000 viewers
MSNBC –119,000 viewers
CNBC –55,000 viewers
HLN – 73,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 476,000 viewers
CNN – 250,000 viewers
MSNBC – 220,000 viewers
CNBC – 65,000 viewers
HLN – 96,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 873,000 viewers (433,000)
American Morning –346,000 viewers (132,000)
Imus in the Morning –311,000 viewers (139,000)
Robin & Co. – 175,000 viewers (82,000)
(more…)

MSNBC put out a release for their October ratings - an atypical move for them - noting the gains made for its programming, including Imus in the Morning which was up 80% year to year in the Demo…

MSNBC continues to be the place for politics as the month of October comes to a close. As the political season swung into full gear this month, MSNBC posted impressive growth, while Fox and CNN continued to loose viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research data. “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” beat CNN again in the demo (25-54), posting extraordinary viewership gains of 61% in the demo and 67% in total viewers when compared to October ‘05. CNN and Fox both lost viewers at 8:00 p.m. “Hardball with Chris Matthews” was up an impressive 27% in the demo and “Scarborough Country” posted a 13% gain among younger viewers.

MSNBC’s daytime programming, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. also grew significantly, averaging 107,000 viewers in the demo, up 30% over October 2005 and 273,000 in total viewers, up 14% over October 2005. “Imus in the Morning,” which MSNBC simulcasts from WFAN in New York between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., posted major gains over a year ago. The show averaged 181,000 in the demo, up 80% and 325,000 in total viewers up 3%.
(more…)

CNBC put out a release this afternoon noting that it has been nominated for four Emmy awards; three for “On The Money” and one for “Closing Bell”…

CNBC, the recognized world leader in business news, today received four nominations for the 4th annual Emmy Awards for Business & Financial Reporting. The awards recognize outstanding achievement in business and financial reporting telecast from July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006.

CNBC’s “On the Money” (7-8 PM ET), where business intersects with pop culture, received three Emmy nominations and CNBC’s “Closing Bell” (3-5 PM ET) received one nomination.

“We are very excited to be recognized with four nominations for the Emmy Awards for Business & Financial Reporting,” said Jonathan Wald, Senior Vice President, CNBC News. “These awards represent what CNBC strives to accomplish daily—outstanding achievement and coverage of business and financial reporting.”
(more…)

Here are a couple of charts showing that over the past year (Oct ‘05 to Oct ‘06) the gap between CNN’s American Morning and MSNBC’s Imus in the Morning has narrowed considerably. Also, the Demo graph for Imus shows a clear, distinct, and noticeable uptrend line over the past year as Imus’ Demo audience has nearly doubled.
(more…)

Here’s a spreadsheet showing 10/06 vs 10/05 numbers for the cable channels in various viewer demographics according to Nielsen…
(more…)

CNN announced this afternoon that it will be re-airing portions of its Broken Government series, this Friday at 2am ET…

CNN will air its successful series Broken Government, two Lou Dobbs’ specials and the CNN documentary “Immigrant Nation” back-to-back on Friday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. (ET). Through five one-hour documentaries within the Broken Government series, CNN’s political team examined all the three branches of government and the challenges facing the two major political parties on the cusp of the pivotal midterm elections. Additionally, Dobbs explored the risks of electronic voting in a one-hour special report with correspondent Kitty Pilgrim and hosted a town hall meeting on the complex challenges of immigration for the United States.

The marathon is part of the network’s comprehensive “America Votes 2006” coverage and will include:
(more…)

FNC put out a release on its 2006 midterm election coverage…

UPDATE: Brit Hume’s Election Preview Special on Sunday will now air at 8pm ET followed by a Hannity & Colmes special at 9pm ET.

Brit Hume kicks-off Fox News Channel’s (FNC) special Election Day coverage of the 2006 midterm elections on Tuesday, November 7th, beginning at 6 p.m. (ET) with Special Report and continuing throughout the evening with You Decide 2006 (7 p.m.-12 a.m. ET). Programming will include interviews with key political players and live reports from FNC’s team of seasoned political correspondents, anchors and analysts. On election night, FNC examines the latest returns, with Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday reporting national exit polls. Overall analysis will be provided by The Beltway Boys hosts Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke; political contributor Juan Williams; Bill Kristol, editor, The Weekly Standard and Michael Barone, columnist, U.S. World and News Report.

From Washington, D.C., Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron will provide up-to-the-minute reporting on Senate races, Major Garrett reports on House races, and Megyn Kendall will focus on the latest results of the gubernatorial races. Chief White House Correspondent Bret Baier will provide live updates from the White House.
(more…)

FNC put out a release concerning the October ratings period…

FOX News Channel (FNC) continued its dominance throughout the month of October 2006, celebrating its 10th anniversary with an historic 250 week consecutive winning streak in cable news, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The network marked the 250 week milestone from 10/09/06 to 10/15/06. CNN has not beaten FNC for a seven day period in the ratings since the week ending December 30, 2001. During the full month of October, FNC averaged 786,000 viewers (down 17%) in Total Day to beat CNN (490,000/down 8%) and MNSBC (286,000/up 13%) combined. In Primetime, FNC again beat the competition combined with 1,291,000 viewers (down 25%), while CNN garnered 720,000 viewers (down 13%) and MSNBC attracted 418,000 viewers (up 16%).
(more…)

Larry Kudlow is making the most of the Bush Administration’s stepped up PR efforts with the Midterm elections a week away. Yesterday he interviewed Vice President Cheney. Today he interviews Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice according to the CNBC Release…

WHO: In an interview with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses a variety of topics including North Korea and its decision to rejoin international negotiations over its nuclear program, Iraq and the strategy to “win” this war, Iran, overall middle east tensions, global relations and trade, China and its crucial role in North Korea’s decision to resume talks, India and emerging markets/economies.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 31 at 5:00 PM ET on CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company” with excerpts throughout the day beginning this morning

WHERE: On CNBC.

FTVLive speculates that MSNBC’s Washington D.C. VP Tammy Haddad is on her way out after ruffling feathers over at the NBC mothership with attempted power grabs…

Cable News Ratings for October 28, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 645,000 viewers
CNN – 377,000 viewers
MSNBC – 273,000 viewers
CNBC – 260,000 viewers
HLN – 255,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 730,000 viewers
CNN – 465,000 viewers
MSNBC – 287,000 viewers
CNBC – 359,000 viewers
HLN – 242,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 205,000 viewers
CNN – 121,000 viewers
MSNBC –121,000 viewers
CNBC –108,000 viewers
HLN – 101,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 175,000 viewers
CNN – 104,000 viewers
MSNBC – 143,000 viewers
CNBC – 140,000 viewers
HLN – 57,000 viewers

(more…)

The St. Petersberg Times editorializes against Chris Matthews’ moderation of last night’s Florida Gubernatorial debate…

Moderator Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball apparently forgot it was a debate between candidates for governor, not Congress. He wasted most of the hour by asking questions about the war in Iraq, a New Jersey Supreme Court decision on gay marriage and the Mark Foley sex scandal. He rehashed the 2000 election. He burned up time demanding that Crist label himself as a fiscal conservative or a social values conservative (fiscal) and trying to get Davis to declare himself a liberal (he’s not). Matthews got bogged down in a lengthy discussion over a paper trail for electronic voting machines, and he apparently didn’t realize there is a property insurance crisis in this state until he was being driven in from the airport. This is what happens when a Washington television personality brings a national agenda to Florida’s race for governor.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul J. Gough spends most of his space writing about Tom Brokaw being part of NBC/MSNBC’s election coverage but he also notes that FNC’s Shepard Smith will be starting a road tour today in the run up to the 2006 midterm elections…

Meanwhile, Fox News Channel said it would send Shepard Smith on the road Tuesday for its “You Decide 2006″ tour. Smith, who was on the road several times this year with “Studio B” and “The Fox Report” for the channel’s 10th anniversary, will be in Escondido, Calif., Tuesday. The show is traveling to Overland Park, Kan., Chesterfield, Mo., Germantown, Tenn., and Patterson, N.J.

The channel said Smith will talk to candidates and voters at each of the stops.

MSNBC and Hotsoup.com announced a partnership for the 2006 Midterm Elections…

With election season in full swing, MSNBC.com and MSNBC TV have partnered with HOTSOUP.com®, an issues-based online community where members discuss and debate the topics that are relevant to their lives and critical to the future of the country. Extending well beyond the mid-term elections, the partnership with HOTSOUP.com gives MSNBC.com users a platform and a community through which they can sound off on the issues that impact the nation. HOTSOUP on MSNBC.com can be found at www.politics.msnbc.com.

Every day, MSNBC.com will post the HOTSOUP.com “Hot Loop,” provided by Ron Fournier, editor-in-chief of HOTSOUP.com and former chief political writer for the Associated Press. Loops are the discussion boards embedded throughout HOTSOUP that allow members to go deeper into the dialogue, engage with like-minded individuals and debate those who disagree. Fournier will also write a weekly analysis piece for MSNBC.com.
(more…)

The New Brunswick Home News Tribune’s Carmen Cusido writes about Soledad O’Brien’s address to The 2006 Governer’s Conference for Women…

During her keynote address, O’Brien, who came to CNN from NBC News, where she anchored “Weekend Today” from 1999 to 2003, talked about her background with a black Cuban mother and an Irish father, and about the early days of her career as a journalist. O’Brien recalled her mother telling her: “don’t let people decide what your life is going to be.

“You can’t let other people define what you can accomplish,” said O’Brien, as most women in the audience nodded their heads in agreement.

O’Brien, who has been in television news for 19 years, has covered the tsunami in Asia and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She said women viewers are most interested in watching a good newscast. O’Brien referenced her mentor and friend Katie Couric, and said she has been told — and been asked — if women are interested in watching Katie Couric. “It’s not about women watching women,” she said.

FNC announced that Celine Dion will be interviewed by Greta Van Susteren tonight…

Tonight FOX News Channel airs Greta Van Susteren’s interview with international singing sensation Celine Dion at 10 PM/ET. On The Record with Greta Van Susteren is in Las Vegas tonight as part of FNC’s 10th anniversary Thank You America Tour.

Greta sat down with Dion before her sold-out Vegas extravaganza on Sunday night. The interview took place in Celine’s multi-million dollar backstage suite at Caesars Palace Coliseum where she talked about the demands of her Vegas show, understanding the depth and reach of her international stardom, and being a mother ¡V even sharing a story of making Halloween cupcakes for trick-or-treaters.

Celine’s husband Rene Angelil also sat down with Greta off-camera prior to the interview, and shared stories about their recent Caribbean vacation. After the interview, Greta and her FNC staff enjoyed Celine’s show and a backstage tour.

NBC News put out a release on its Decision 2006 Midterm election night coverage…

NBC News will cover all angles of the mid term elections using the powerful resources of NBC News, MSNBC on cable, MSNBC.com, CNBC, Telemundo, NBC Mobile and NBC News Radio on Election Day, Tuesday, November 7, 2006. NBC News will offer the best and most experienced team in television, with Brian Williams anchoring NBC News’ live “Decision 2006″ coverage from the NBC News world headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York. Joining Williams will be “Meet the Press” moderator and senior political analyst Tim Russert, and NBC Special correspondent Tom Brokaw. “Weekend Today” co-anchors Campbell Brown will report on voter trends and Lester Holt will look ahead at the 2008 presidential race.

A veteran team of NBC News correspondents will fan out across the country and report on key Senate, House and gubernatorial races, and will include Ron Allen, Tom Costello, Lisa Daniels, Rehema Ellis, Chris Jansing, George Lewis, Ron Mott, Mark Potter, David Shuster, Don Teague, Kevin Tibbles, and Mike Viqueira. NBC News’ Chief White House correspondent David Gregory will report from the White House, and NBC’s Congressional correspondent Chip Reid will cover Capitol Hill.
(more…)

Imus beat American Morning again on Friday which means Imus beat AM 4 out of 5 days last week.

Cable News Ratings for October 27, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 830,000 viewers
CNN – 469,000 viewers
MSNBC – 299,000 viewers
CNBC – 169,000 viewers
HLN – 234,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,258,000 viewers
CNN – 657,000 viewers
MSNBC – 411,000 viewers
CNBC – 117,000 viewers
HLN – 423,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 267,000 viewers
CNN – 154,000 viewers
MSNBC –133,000 viewers
CNBC –71,000 viewers
HLN – 102,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 345,000 viewers
CNN – 219,000 viewers
MSNBC – 191,000 viewers
CNBC – 64,000 viewers
HLN – 139,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 831,000 viewers (364,000)
American Morning –278,000 viewers (98,000)
Imus in the Morning –372,000 viewers (172,000)
Robin & Co. – 181,000 viewers (106,000)
(more…)

I only caught a piece of this on my Tivo but the Fox and Friends weekend cast and crew were goofing it up in Halloween costumes Sunday. Kiran Chetry was Angelina Jolie, Alisyn Camerota was Heidi Klum, and Kelly Wright was Donald Trump. The video is on You Tube (link not verified due to IT blocking video at work) and the FNC website (scroll down the page)…

UPDATE: Another link…

Broadcasting & Cable’s Glen Dickson has a Q&A with Sharri Berg, FNC’s Senior VP of News Operations…

Tell me how you go about evaluating new tools that are being used in the field to bring back news to viewers.

Since the digital newsgathering enhancement over the last couple of years that began with the war coverage, there is sort of a predictable experience when experimenting with new technology.

First, you deal with getting pictures from hard-to-reach places, and you’re pleased with that.

Then, the immediate next step is how to improve the quality of the feed, the latency, etc.

So you immediately start moving backwards as well as forwards. We’re just trying to get as nimble as possible, to find the best tools to gather news, so we can bring more sources of content to air and do it faster and better.

Broadcasting & Cable’s Glen Dickson writes about the smart phone technology FNC used for the first time during the crash into a Manhattan apartment building story…

Fox’s use of the Treo smartphones was triggered when a Fox engineer saw the Comet Video technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January. Sharri Berg, Fox senior VP for news operations at the Fox News Channel and for Fox stations, was intrigued. (See Q&A, p. 34.)

Ben Ramos, director of field operations, Fox News Channel, says Fox quickly started to work with Comet to develop capabilities for broadcast use, which required modifying the specifications of the transmitters and receivers.

Fox News Channel first used the Treo to deliver live pictures on-air as its news crew sped to the scene of the Amish-school shooting in Pennsylvania on Oct. 2. It also used the device to show viewers the action in the Atlanta trial of accused murderer and kidnapper Brian Nichols as a reporter captured video of a hearing that was being shown to reporters on an internal courthouse feed in the court press room.

BusinessWire has the FNC release announcing Kevin Magee’s promotion to Executive Vice President of Fox News…

Kevin Magee has been named Executive Vice President, FOX News, announced Roger Ailes, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, FOX News and Chairman, FOX Television Stations. Magee will continue to report directly to Mr. Ailes.

In addition to continuing oversight of FOX News Radio, Magee will now be responsible for the syndicated morning show with Juliet Huddy and Mike Jerrick on FOX Television Stations. He will also serve as the executive in charge of the proposed business channel in the event distribution is secured for its launch.

In making the announcement, Ailes said, “Kevin’s successful television programming background and his remarkable performance in building FOX News Radio will be instrumental in his new role of extending the FOX News brand into the future.”
(more…)

Katie Couric will be Larry King’s guest on Wednesday, November 1st at 9pm ET…

CNN announced its Election Night plans today in a long news release…

Combining the latest in newsgathering and news production technology with the expertise of the “Best Political Team in Television,” CNN will offer the most content-rich midterm election reports available. CNN’s unrivaled coverage culminates on Tuesday, Nov. 7, from 7 p.m. to midnight with America Votes 2006, anchored by Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Lou Dobbs and Paula Zahn live from the network’s state-of-the-art studio in the Time Warner Center in New York.

Using the capabilities of CNN’s “News Wall,” a large video wall offering viewers multiple angles on stories through video and graphics, the network will dynamically present real-time vote information, exit polls and analysis of races across the country. CNN will be able to present viewers with at-this-moment information from more than a dozen of its correspondents covering key races around the country.

At midnight after the polls have closed on the West Coast, Larry King hosts a special two-hour edition of Larry King Live, which will include instant reaction from leading politicians and observers across America. CNN will continue offering live updates through the night, and American Morning co-anchored by Soledad O’Brien and Miles O’Brien will take air at the special time of 5 a.m. (ET) on Wednesday, Nov. 8 for complete post-game election results and analysis.
(more…)

CNN announced its radio election coverage plans today…

CNN Radio kicks off its mid-term election coverage with an hour-long “America Votes 2006” special. This program – which tackles issues such as voter fraud, America’s youth at the polls, the balance of power in Congress and other issues – is available on Newslink and CNN Radio’s Special Programming page on its affiliate site.

A weeklong series of Special Reports will also be made available to CNNRadio affiliates beginning Monday, Oct. 30, and run through Friday, Nov. 3. For these reports, CNNRadio anchors and correspondents will take an in-depth look at close races in key states and discuss the issues with voters in those districts. These “America Votes 2006” reports will be fed in the 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. newsfeeds as well as posted online.

On Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 7, Dick Uliano will be available for affiliates from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Washington, D.C., for live reports about the close races that will decide the balance of power in Congress for the next term. Lisa Goddard will take over from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m.
(more…)

The Chicago Sun Times’ Doug Elfman rates the cable news channels in an article that lets his biases hang out for all to see…(via Romenesko)

These days cable news is more about views than news. Keith Olbermann calls George Bush a sort of terrorist. Fox News pundits call CNN unpatriotic. Lou Dobbs calls for a crackdown on illegal immigration. Who took the news out of the news? Everyone but Wolf Blitzer, apparently.

I’ve been monitoring cable news networks for dozens of hours a week ever since the Mark Foley scandal broke. I was hoping to provide a thorough reasoning of how the networks — CNN, MSNBC and Fox News — have been covering the midterm elections. But there’s one basic thing going on. More than ever, cable news shows succumb to partisan hackery, the never-ending boxing match, round 1 million and counting.

The AP’s David Bauder writes about how CNBC is trying to “distinguish itself” with documentaries in an article that is also a mini profile of Documentary Unit head Josh Howard…

Both times it aired earlier this month, the CNBC documentary “The Age of Wal-Mart” attracted larger audiences than any other business program on the network that week.

That’s not particularly noteworthy until you consider that they were reruns. More than a rerun: the Peabody Award-winning film is two years old and CNBC has shown it 44 times.

Television executives notice those kind of numbers, and the trend explains how Josh Howard got his job 10 months ago, running a newly formed documentary unit at CNBC and preparing the network’s first newsmagazine for its December debut.

CNBC announced that Vice President Cheney will be interviewed by Larry Kudlow today…

WHO: In an interview with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, Vice President Cheney discusses a variety of topics including the Republican strategy for the last week of the campaign and the fact that Iraq is overshadowing the country’s economic strength.

WHEN: Monday, October 30 at 5:00 PM ET on CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company” with excerpts throughout the day beginning this morning

WHERE: On CNBC.

CNN announced that Kyra Phillips will be interviewing humorist Art Buchwald on Friday…

CNN anchor Kyra Phillips visits Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Art Buchwald on Friday, Nov. 3, at his Washington, D.C., home in his first television interview since leaving hospice for what was thought to be terminal kidney failure. The conversation will air throughout the afternoon edition of CNN Newsroom, anchored by Phillips and Don Lemon weekdays 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (ET).

Suffering kidney failure, Buchwald moved to the Washington Home and Hospice in 2005 and in February of this year opted to forgo dialysis that would keep him alive. Awaiting death, Buchwald prepared for his funeral and final arrangements with his trademark sense of wit. Months later, Buchwald remains alive with his kidneys functioning again.

“Ever since I was 20 years old and struggling through my first piece of college copy, Art always looked me in the eye and said, ‘One day I expect to pick up the paper and read about you’,” Phillips said. “Being able to go on air and let him share what may be his last book is one of the best gifts I think I can ever give him.”
(more…)

The L.A. Times Matea Gold writes about CNN’s Election Night plans to include bloggers in its coverage…

The cable news network plans to host more than two dozen bloggers from across the political spectrum — including sites like RedState and Daily Kos — at a Washington Internet lounge where they can monitor the election returns on a slew of flat-screen televisions. (Each blogger will get his or her own monitor, which can be tuned to any channel.) There will be free wireless access — and plenty of food and beverages, natch.

CNN Internet reporters Jacki Schechner and Abbi Tatton have been assigned to cover the gathering and provide regular updates on the air about the topics that are generating the most chatter.

“Bloggers are leading the conversation,” said David Bohrman, CNN’s Washington bureau chief. “You could argue that most of the political dialogue in this country is happening online, so if you don’t incorporate that into your coverage, you’re missing a major element.”

The St. Peterberg Times Eric Deggans has an interview with Hardball’s Chris Matthews on the day of the Florida Gubernatorial debate he’ll be moderating (which will be broadcast on MSNBC tonight)…

Chris Matthews is a motor-mouth interrogator whose in-your-face interview style has been parodied everywhere from Saturday Night Live to the pages of this newspaper.

But ask him about the grumbling from some in Florida that his gregarious personality might overshadow the gubernatorial debate he is moderating tonight, and the host of MSNBC’s Hardball offers a simple promise.

“Five words: If I can do it, I’ll ask questions that are just five words long,” he said Friday, calling from his office in Washington, D.C. “The two candidates are going to be the stars of this night. My job is to make sure people see as much of them as possible and learn as much about them as possible. I want people who watch this program to walk away saying, ‘I think I know these guys now.’ ”