Following up on last week’s story where Senator James Inhofe criticized CNN in general and Miles O’Brien in particular about an American Morning report on Global Warming, this morning Senator Inhofe appeared on American Morning with Miles O’Brien in a somewhat confrontational interview. Newsbusters has more…

INHOFE: “But let’s keep in mind, when you say that I’ve been alone on this issue, the last time-”

O’BRIEN: “Well, I said ‘all but alone’ -in saying it’s a hoax. That’s what I said.”

INHOFE: “No. No. The last time- The last time we had a vote on this, it was last year when I led the charge against John McCain on the floor. He had a bill that was called the Kyoto Lite bill. And we won 60 to 38. So I’m not alone; there are 59 other senators that are out there. And I wonder also, Miles, it wasn’t long ago — you’ve got to keep everyone hysterical all the time. You were the one that said another ice age is coming just 12 years ago.”

O’BRIEN: “I said that? I didn’t say that.”

INHOFE: “You didn’t say that. Let me quote you-”

O’BRIEN: “No, no, no. I’d be willing to tell you there are stories like that. But there’s not-”

INHOFE: “-quote you so I’ll be accurate. I don’t want to be inaccurate. ”

O’BRIEN: “All right, go ahead.

INHOFE: You said, in talking about a shift that was coming — you said, ‘If the Gulf Stream were to shift again, the British Isles could be engulfed in polar ice and Europe’s climate could become frigid.’ That’s another scary story.”

Paula Zahn previewing tonight’s show…

The first minutes of Paula Zahn Now…

Imus had a bigger than average morning yesterday. I’m sure these guys would say it was because Halperin was on pushing his new book. Olbermann had a big day beating Paula Zahn Now which also had a decent night.

Cable News Ratings for October 2, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC - 965,000 viewers
CNN - 646,000 viewers
MSNBC - 379,000 viewers
CNBC - 146,000 viewers
HLN - 264,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 1,636,000 viewers
CNN -1,097,000 viewers
MSNBC - 525,000 viewers
CNBC - a scratch with 99,000 viewers
HLN - 438,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC - 291,000 viewers
CNN - 225,000 viewers
MSNBC - 158,000 viewers
CNBC - a scratch with 44,000 viewers
HLN - 106,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 212,000 viewers
CNN - 191,000 viewers
MSNBC - 121,000 viewers
CNBC - 61,000 viewers
HLN - 113,000 viewers
(more…)

The AP’s Frazier Moore writes about CNN’s New York News Wall…

Dominating one area of the studio is a screen that measures 24 feet long and 9 feet high (almost twice the dimensions of the “Situation Room” video wall). Simulating a computer’s desktop writ large, it accommodates a stream of live and taped dispatches, of correspondents and interview subjects, of maps and other graphics with which the studio-based anchor can interact on-camera. This screen is fed by a trio of 8,000-watt rear-projection units whose individual outputs are electronically fused into a continuous panoramic spread.

The new studio is also outfitted with a second, scaled-down video wall, as well as some six dozen teeming flat-screen monitors.

There’s a couch-equipped interview area and a module where in-studio correspondents can be debriefed. The main anchor desk can swivel in numerous directions, adding to the studio’s adaptable appearance.

UPDATE: It’s sort of odd that CNN is picking the middle of the week to launch this and not completely across the board for all New York based programs as American Morning won’t change over until next Monday. The cynic in me wonders if the launch was pushed up a bit to pull the spotlight off of FNC a bit in the press in the wake of the wave of FNC stories that have been dominating the media for the past two weeks with the Clinton/Wallace interview and FNC’s 10th Anniversay back to back. Conversly, it’s also possible that things are behind schedule and the piecemeal rollout (primetime tonight, mornings next week) is due to technical issues.

UPDATE 2: Klein directly refutes that in the article…

But was its introduction also timed to steal a little thunder from Fox News Channel’s 10th anniversary this week?

“I wish we were that smart,” Klein said with a laugh. “This has been in the works for more than a year.”

CNN announced the debut tonight in CNN’s New York Studios of a suped up version of the Situation Room’s video wall called “The News Wall”…

CNN’s morning and prime-time newscasts will begin rolling out a dramatic new look with the launch of a massive state-of-the-art studio inside the Time Warner Center. The studio’s centerpiece is “The News Wall,” a big-screen showcase for the latest video and informational graphics pouring into CNN from around the nation, the world and the Web.

The public’s first peek at The News Wall comes tonight at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. during Paula Zahn Now and Anderson Cooper 360º. The new studio becomes the permanent home for American Morning on Monday, Oct. 9, at 6 a.m. All times Eastern.

The News Wall is a larger, more powerful version of the video wall featured in The Situation Room – whose acclaimed design enables news programs to deliver multiple stories simultaneously, offers viewers multiple angles from the same story and pairs compelling video with bold graphics. The new studio also features a second video wall, as well as dozens of plasma screens, monitors and computer workstations to enable anchors and reporters to track breaking stories directly from the set as they develop.
(more…)

CNBC announced this afternoon the launch of a new franchise series covering Hedge Funds and Private Equity called “Power & Money”…

CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, will devote increased, high-priority coverage to the $1.2 trillion hedge and private equity fund industry, beginning immediately, it was announced today by Jonathan Wald, Senior Vice President, Business News, CNBC. The segments will be reported under the banner “Power & Money: Inside the World of Hedge Funds and Private Equity.”

The segments will be seen on all CNBC Business Day programming (5 AM-7 PM ET), including “Squawk Box,” “Power Lunch” and “Closing Bell” “on the Money CNBC will turn its unrivalled global reporting loose on the fast-growing world of hedge and private equity funds. Assets in hedge funds, for instance, have more than doubled in just the past five years, and private equity funds are now among Wall Street’s biggest dealmakers. CNBC, in collaboration with The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, will not only report breaking news on these market-moving investment powerhouses but also will present features on the people who run them and the big-money investors who have flooded them with capital.
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Tomorrow Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, and Gretchen Carlson will ring out the NASDAQ closing bell at 4pm ET to celebrate FNC’s 10th Anniversary. I wonder if Your World will cover it live?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tim Cuprisin interviews Roger Ailes…

First off, let’s start with the fact that the 10th anniversary probably won’t see the launching of a news show on Fox’s broadcast network to rival the three network newscasts.

But if that did happen, “I’d have no problem putting Shep up against ‘em because I think he’d actually beat ‘em,” the Fox News Channel president says of anchor Shepard Smith.

“The problem would be the station lineup, the power of the stations in the market, the number of clearances you could get, the advertiser demand,” Ailes tells Inside TV & Radio. “There are a lot of pieces to this other than just who do you put out there. That would be the more important consideration.”

Cable News Ratings for September 30, 2006

P2+ Total Day
FNC - 556,000 viewers
CNN - 479,000 viewers
MSNBC - 281,000 viewers
CNBC - 124,000 viewers
HLN - 231,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 627,000 viewers
CNN -617,000 viewers
MSNBC - 284,000 viewers
CNBC - 125,000 viewers
HLN - 245,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC - 198,000 viewers
CNN - 176,000 viewers
MSNBC - 123,000 viewers
CNBC - 53,000 viewers
HLN - 108,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 212,000 viewers
CNN - 191,000 viewers
MSNBC - 121,000 viewers
CNBC - 61,000 viewers
HLN - 113,000 viewers
(more…)

The New York Daily News’ Richard Huff has a profile of FNC head Roger Ailes…

Ten years in, and Roger Ailes isn’t sitting still at the Fox News Channel.

Overall viewership for the network has fallen this year, though FNC is still the dominant news network on cable.

“We’re 10 years old and need a spanking and to get back in the game again,” Ailes said as the network prepares to mark its milestone this week.

As a model, he pointed to the Yankees, who are consistent champions but every year must start fresh.

Ailes attributes the viewership dip to a lack of big news events since last year’s Hurricane Katrina, the growth in news coverage in other arenas, such as cell phones and the Internet, and some level of internal complacency.

“We’re freshening up, moving things around. We fired some people,” Ailes said of recent changes. “If people change in the seat next to you, it focuses your mind.”