CNN has a podcast interview with Soledad O’Brien and executive producers Jim Polk and Jeff Reid regarding this Saturday’s 8pm premiere of CNN Special Investigations Unit’s “MLK - Words That Changed a Nation”…

Through rare access to the Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien examines the personal determination and private courage and concerns of the preacher and civil rights leader. O’Brien also interviews Dr. King’s contemporaries and confidants including former U.N. Ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and activist Dorothy Cotton among others, who reveal many of the behind-the-scenes decisions and emotions during many of the major milestones of the civil rights movement. CNN reveals the motivations and inspirations for Dr. King’s remarkable life.

CNN Special Investigations Unit: MLK – Words that Changed a Nation airs on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 8p.m. and 11p.m. ET. It re-airs at the same times on Sunday, Feb. 18.

I had noted in a comment Wednesday that Nancy Grace had been beating Countdown for 2nd recently because of the Anna Nicole Smith story and that her numbers would drop back down below Countdown’s once that saga waned. However I may have been a tad presumptuous in that declaration. While it’s true that Grace’s Numbers have definately gone up because of the Anna Nicole saga, this isn’t the only time this year that Grace has beaten Olbermann. Since the start of 2007 Nancy Grace has beaten Countdown 10 times in the Demo and 9 times in Total Viewers. Four of those times were before the Anna Nicole saga broke. Of course that also means that 38 times Countdown beat Grace in The Demo and 37 times in Total viewers. What all this ultimately shows is that 8pm remains the most competitive hour in all of cable news where on any given night CNN, MSNBC, or HLN could take second place…

FNC announced this evening that it will be hosting the August 2007 Democratic Presidential candidate debate in Reno, Nevada…

FOX News, the Nevada Democratic Party and the Western Majority Project have jointly announced that they will host a 2008 presidential debate, which is expected to attract the top Democratic contenders for President. The debate will be presented live on FOX News Channel (FNC) and FOX News Radio on August 14, 2007 in Reno.

In making the announcement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, “”This is more great news for Nevada. I’m happy FOX News will be a partner for the August presidential debate. Western issues will be a major focus of this debate in particular. With FOX News as our partner, candidates will have an opportunity to not only speak to Nevada voters, but voters across the West who will be instrumental to electing a Democratic president in 2008.”

FOX News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes added, “FOX News is proud to be a leader in coverage of the 2008 campaign season and a co-host of this important presidential debate. We look forward to working with the Nevada Democratic Party and the Western Majority Project.”
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The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer is broadcasting live today from the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Guests include Mayor Oscar Goodman, NBA Commissioner David Stern (both in the 5 p.m. hour) and presidential candidate John Edwards (7 p.m. hour). Wolf will also anchor his Sunday program “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” from Vegas with guests Sen. Harry Reid, White Press Secy Tony Snow and magician Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller and The Aristrocrats fame.

The main themes are winning the West in 2008 and a closer look at this state where an early Democratic caucus is expected to take place.

TVNewser has NBC saying what I already noted last night regarding Ken Allard “severing ties with NBC” over William Arkin and other things. Meanwhile, Olbermann Watch beats up on TVNewser for not noting Keith Olbermann’s part in Allard’s commentary.

Cable News Daily Ratings for February 15, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 928,000 viewers
CNN – 495,000 viewers
MSNBC – 354,000 viewers
CNBC – 258,000 viewers
HLN – 330,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,104,000 viewers
CNN – 916,000 viewers
MSNBC – 514,000 viewers
CNBC – 399,000 viewers
HLN – 618,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 261,000 viewers
CNN –163,000 viewers
MSNBC – 147,000 viewers
CNBC – 101,000 viewers
HLN – 143,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 5500,000 viewers
CNN – 290,000 viewers
MSNBC – 195,000 viewers
CNBC – 169,000 viewers
HLN – 240,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 826,000 viewers (325,000)
American Morning –356,000 viewers (126,000)
Imus in the Morning– 466,000 viewers (189,000)
Robin & Co. – 238,000 viewers (132,000)
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Joe Scarborough writes about sitting around for nine hours Wednesday waiting to fly. He never got back which is why Dan Abrams anchored his program…

We began boarding at 7:30 AM. I grabbed a quick cup of coffee on the way to the airport and figured I’d have breakfast when I landed in Atlanta a few hours later. But soon after settling snugly into seat 41E, I began to realize this was going to be a trip to remember. With ice pellets belting against the 747’s windows, I found myself stuck in a middle seat between a man, a woman and a dog.

Dear God.

Fortune’s Barney Gimbel writes about the Maria Bartiromo/Citigroup scandal…

The story forced Bartiromo’s bosses to stand by their anchorwoman. In Davos, NBC Universal’s Bob Wright came out to defend Bartiromo’s journalistic integrity just days before he was to announce his own retirement. Jeff Immelt of NBC parent GE (Charts) weighed in too. “Substantially, I don’t think she did anything wrong,” he said.

For Jeff Zucker, tapped to succeed Wright, the scandal became a distraction. The Money Honey is CNBC’s biggest star, the cable network is coming off its best year ever, and Bartiromo has long been rumored to be considering a defection to Fox. Right on cue, on Feb. 8, News Corp.’s (Charts) Rupert Murdoch formally announced that the long-anticipated Fox Business Channel would debut in the fall, and he took direct aim at CNBC: “We have to recruit some money honeys,” chuckled Murdoch. Coincidentally (or not), his usually aggressive New York Post has mostly held fire on Mariagate.

What’s Gimbel talking about? The Post has been all over the story. It may not have been on the front line like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal but it’s following closely behind. And it’s taken other shots at Bartiromo including a silly Page Six piece on her a couple of days ago which ICN ignored because it was totally gratuitous.

CNN’s release on the Kiran Chetry signing. Do note the Chetry quote because I’m sure FNC is noting it. Any chance of this being a quiet, peaceful move away from FNC like Catherine Crier’s or even Rita Cosby’s, just went right out the window…

Kiran Chetry, former Fox News anchor, has joined CNN as an anchor and correspondent, it was announced today by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. Chetry, who will be based in the network’s New York bureau, appeared this morning on American Morning and will be anchoring Anderson Cooper360° tonight from 10 p.m. to midnight (ET).

“We have been interested in Kiran for a long time,” Klein said. “She is experienced and energetic – a perfect addition to the CNN family. We could not be more pleased that she could begin immediately.”

“CNN is the gold standard when it comes to journalism, and I am thrilled to be part of the team,” Chetry said.
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FNC announced that Courtney Friel has joined the network as a correspondent for Foxnews.com and as a substitute anchor. Friel will be appearing this weekend on Fox and Friends.

Courtney Friel has joined FOX News, announced Bill Shine, Senior Vice President of Programming at FOX News, and will make her debut on “FOX & Friends” this weekend. Friel will join co-hosts Kelly Wright and Greg Kelly in anchoring the morning program this Saturday and Sunday from 7-10AM/ET.

In addition, Friel will be a correspondent for Foxnews.com.
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Radar Online sums up the Olbermann announcement in typical Radar Online fashion…

Like the only kid over six foot on a middle school basketball team, Keith Olbermann will continue as MSNBC’s leading scorer for four more years.

The Houston Chronicle’s Mike McDaniel…

The show is executive produced by Joel Surnow and Manny Coto, the makers of 24, and Ned Rice (Politically Incorrect).

“We’re just puppeteers,” insisted Surnow, who said he still devotes the vast majority of his time to the hit Fox series. He said the idea for the series came up two years ago when he and Coto noted the lack of a humor show with a conservative viewpoint.

They got together with Rice and Sandy Frank (The Late Show With David Letterman), then pitched their idea to the Fox network as a late-night show. Fox passed, but they mentioned it to Roger Ailes, president of Fox News Channel, and he proposed making two test episodes. The first of these airs at 9 p.m. Sunday.

If the public bites, more episodes will be made. So far, there’s evidence of an appetite. As of Thursday, a clip from the show on YouTube had received 200,000 views.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli…
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Studio B with Shepard Smith will be broadcasting from the Daytona Motor Speedway today. The Daytona 500 is this Sunday and airing on FOX Broadcast. The NY Daily News’ Richard Huff writes that one of Smith’s guests will be Darrell Waltrip…

Last night ICN got tipped off that Kiran Chetry’s desk had been cleaned out. I sat on that because I wanted confirmation of some sort. That came this morning when I turned on CNN’s American Morning and saw Chetry filling in for Soledad O’Brien. So now we know what happened with the contract negotiations with FNC. As I suspected yesterday, another network, CNN, came in with another better offer and Chetry went to FNC to match and FNC balked. If you read that PDF between the lines with what we now know, the anger that was visible in that letter becomes more clear. It sounds like there was the framework of a deal between FNC and Chetry and then CNN came in and threw everything off balance.

This throws what had appeared to be a settling down anchor lineup on Fox and Friends Weekend back into question. Who will take over the center chair vacated by Chetry? Will it be Alisyn Camerota, who was supposed to be the M-Fr weekday news update replacment for Lauren Green when she comes back from maternity leave? Or will it be someone else such as Patti Ann Browne or Page Hopkins? Or will FNC do something unexpected like grab Jodi Applegate from Fox5 NY? We shall see…

UPDATE: FTVLive has more info on the goings on behind the scenes between Chetry and FNC. FTVLive says Chetry’s appearance on CNN is a tryout.

UPDATE 2: TVNewser says CNN will announce Chetry’s hiring today.

Ken Allard penned a follow up article in the San Antonio Express on William Arkin and included Keith Olbermann. O’Reilly read part of Allard’s commentary on The Factor tonight including…you guessed it…the part on Olbermann. So the wait is over! O’Reilly mentioned Olbermann by name! But back to Allard’s article…

It is, therefore, possible to argue that NBC is merely undergoing a delicate arabesque in anticipation of changing audience preferences and the long- hoped-for Democratic restoration (although journalists generally seem reluctant to raise the tough questions that should punctuate the 2008 campaign).

But has anyone else noticed the network’s precipitous retreat from journalistic and ethical standards? Not only were no apologies given and no pink slips issued for Arkin’s outburst, but on his MSNBC show last week, Keith Olberman went out of his way to defend this “valid criticism” of our military.

Allard is right but he’s also wrong. He’s right that that no pink slip was given to Arkin (a bad idea if for no other reason than it’s really bad PR to keep Arkin hanging around now that he’s gone radioactive) but he’s wrong that NBC didn’t, albeit belatedly, comment on Arkin. IT did and it condemned what Arkin wrote. But I don’t agree that NBC has to apologize for Arkin though because Arkin’s comments did not occur on NBC air. They occurred in the Washington Post. It would be like ICN having to apologize for something Johnny Dollar wrote on Olbermann Watch because Dollar has posted comments here.

Another aspect of the Allard piece which disturbs me is the move away from Arkin and including things like Maria Bartiromo and Conan O’Brien. When Allard talks about Arkin or military analysis or the way cable news skews towards the sensational I think he’s on solid ground. But when he strays from that, as he does at the end of the article, it makes me start asking what his real agenda is.

There’s a funny little PS at the end of Allard’s comments where he says because of all this he’s severing his ties with NBC News. That’s funny because he already has stated that he was a former NBC News military analyst so how can he sever a tie that’s already been cut?