Don Imus has been making noises about going to Iraq. I caught part of his conversation with MSNBC military analyst Jack Jacobs. Jacobs has made several trips there over the past few years. The Imus Blog has more details and a funny photoshop picture…

NBC war correspondent Tom Aspell called in this morning. Tom thinks it’s a great idea for Mr. Imus to go to Iraq. He described Camp Victory and the incredible military power Imus would see. Saying when you see all the power you can’t imagine us losing the war. Aspell even offered to help Imus with a packing list.

We have obtained an exclusive top secret photo of Mr. Imus in training for his trip to Iraq.

Who would you put in the center chair on Fox and Friends Weekend?

Johnny Dollar has the audio of John Gibson on his radio show talking about Jesse Jackson reacting to FNC and the CBC Institute hosting a couple of debates.

…and the winner in the Greatest Animal in all of the Internet category was a clip of a cat that went bezerk and attacked its handler. However this clip originally was aired on NBC over a decade and a half ago on Dick Clark’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes. I recognized it instantly (you don’t see cats go bonkers like THAT that often). I guess nobody on the Countdown production staff knew this or if they did they didn’t care.

YouTube has a video preview of the next Business Nation airing April 4th on CNBC…

MSNBC came in fourth again behind HLN in the daytime and primetime demos.

Cable News Ratings for March 29, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 960,000 viewers
CNN – 514,000 viewers
MSNBC – 292,000 viewers
CNBC – 234,000 viewers
HLN – 244,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,277,000 viewers
CNN – 870,000 viewers
MSNBC – 516,000 viewers
CNBC – 333,000 viewers
HLN – 463,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 257,000 viewers
CNN – 167,000 viewers
MSNBC –105,000 viewers
CNBC – 90,000 viewers
HLN – 111,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 437,000 viewers
CNN – 214,000 viewers
MSNBC – 149,000 viewers
CNBC – 106,000 viewers
HLN –166,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 766,000 viewers (280,000)
American Morning – 372,000 viewers (144,000)
Imus in The Morning- 411,000 viewers (175,000)
Robin & Co. – 150,000 viewers (80,000)
(more…)

is now online. (via FishbowlDC)

The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz scoops that Jeff Greenfield is leaving CNN for CBS…

Jeff Greenfield, a senior political analyst for the cable network for nine years, has agreed to join CBS as the presidential campaign gears up. CBS recently hired general assignment reporter Kelly Wallace and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg away from CNN, and has made CNN anchor Anderson Cooper a “60 Minutes contributor.”

Shepard Smith, 1992. Via Roger Simmons who recounts a near death experience Smith had as a local reporter…

For longtime market watchers, the incident was eerily similar to what happened in 1992 to then-Channel 6 reporter Shepard Smith. Now a Fox News Channel anchor, Smith was rushed to the hospital after he was found passed out from carbon monoxide fumes inside a Channel 6 news van. Smith had been editing for about two minutes inside the aging van when he collapsed. Photographer Chris Kennedy got Smith out of the van and called for help.

FNC will be airing “Sock. Scissors. Paper. The Sandy Berger Caper” this Saturday at 9pm ET and Sunday at 4pm ET…

Caught red-handed for stealing classified government papers, Sandy Berger repeatedly lied about his crime and destroyed vital evidence. So why did he only get a slap on the wrist?

Tune in this weekend, as FOX News blows this explosive case wide open!

FNC’s Clarissa Ward writes about unwinding after being in Badhdad…

Today, I am back in Beirut. I have spent all day spoiling myself and trying to feel feminine again. I went to the hairdresser, had a manicure and pedicure, and then went and spent too much money on clothes I will probably never wear. I rounded up the afternoon with a bath and then a nap.

Perhaps this intensive pampering is a perverse reaction to witnessing the suffering and violence and devastation of a war zone. Yet for me it is absolutely essential. It’s the only way for me to ease myself back into my world. And you can’t stay too long in the other world, the Baghdad world. Quite simply, it will break you.

The Washingtonian’s Garrett M. Graff writes about the MRC’s yearly hatefest, “The DisHonors Awards”, where a hater comes on stage to announce the award and slam the nominees and then another hater comes on to accept the award and slam the winner. Is there anything even remotely as caustic and mean sprited on the Left? If there is I’d be interested in hearing about it so I can slam it as well.

Yes, I’m clrearly staking a position on this. How people could enjoy themselves in a sea of so much negativity and spite is amazing. A circle jerk at its finest…

CNN’s Jack Cafferty won the “Tin Foil Hat Award for Crazy Conspiracy Theories” and the award was “accepted” via video by Osama bin Laden, whose dubbed video played on the room’s four big screens. Speaking through a bad Punjabi translator, “bin Laden” explained that he calls CNN the “Cave News Network” because “their audience is so small it could fit in my cave.”

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann was perhaps the biggest loser last night: Nominated in three of the five categories, he failed to win a single award. Neal Boortz relished going after Olbermann, calling him “MSNBC’s answer to a relief tube,” a “void surrounded by a sphincter muscle,” and said, “You know you’ve done something right when that footstool attacks you on national TV.”

Boortz on Bryant Gumbel: An “arrogant little jock-sniffer” and an “obtuse mindless person.”

CNN has launched a podcast for Richard Quest. (via CNN Observations)

FTVLive does another one of its long range crystal ball seances and conjurs up Dan Abrams being stripped of his GM title at some point in the future after MSNBC moves to 30 Rock.

The Daily Colonial’s Marc Abramson writes about Lou Dobb’s “War on the Middle Class” special losing its live studio audience…

CNN cancelled its live in-studio audience broadcast of the “War on the Middle Class” Thursday afternoon, and moved it to a closed studio in CNN’s Washington Bureau.

The one-hour primetime special hosted by Lou Dobbs, anchor and managing editor of “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” was supposed to run as a panel discussion in the Jack Morton Auditorium, following Wednesday evening’s show in Morton Auditorium which focused on illegal drug and alcohol use in the United States.

“The change has nothing to do with any internal problems, it was simply a logistics change,” a CNN spokesperson said in an interview with The Daily Colonial. “It was a choice that was made in light of convenience.”

I’m a tad late getting around to this as it started last week but MSNBC began a new ad campaign. The setting is a grade school spelling bee and various “students” are called up to spell various MSNBC terms. I’ve seen one for MSNBC being the place for Politics, one for Hardball, and one for Scarborough Country.

CNN announced that Will Silva will host an hour long Final Four review for its radio affiliates…

In time for the opening tip-off of the 2007 NCAA Final Four, CNN Radio and Headline News sports anchor Will Selva offer a full-court look at this year’s NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship with the network’s latest long-form program, “Tickling the Twine.” This hour-long program was produced by CNN Radio supervising producer Richard Benson.

“Tickling the Twine” features interviews with basketball coaches, analysis from college basketball insiders and a look into the reasons for the popularity of “March Madness.” Selva and CNN Radio also examine some of the financial elements of the tournament and how it means millions for participating schools and even dollars for those filling out their own brackets.
(more…)

HLN beat MSNBC in the Demo again last night.

Cable News Ratings for March 28, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 868,000 viewers
CNN – 489,000 viewers
MSNBC – 316,000 viewers
CNBC – 211,000 viewers
HLN – 233,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,011,000 viewers
CNN – 810,000 viewers
MSNBC – 521,000 viewers
CNBC – 269,000 viewers
HLN – 510,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 235,000 viewers
CNN – 173,000 viewers
MSNBC –127,000 viewers
CNBC – 84,000 viewers
HLN – 106,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 443,000 viewers
CNN – 275,000 viewers
MSNBC – 183,000 viewers
CNBC – 121,000 viewers
HLN –203,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 721,000 viewers (268,000)
American Morning – 317,000 viewers (118,000)
Imus in The Morning- 345,000 viewers (130,000)
Robin & Co. – 154,000 viewers (96,000)
(more…)

FNC and the CBC Institute announced that they will present two 2008 primary debates…

The first of the two debates will be among Democratic candidates and will be held on September 23rd at the Fox Theater in Detroit. The second debate will be among Republican candidates and will take place in the fall of 2007 at a location to be determined. Both debates will serve as a forum for the candidates to make their platforms known.

The CBC Institute previously partnered with FNC for two democratic presidential debates leading up to the 2004 election, in which all candidates participated. Both debates were among FNC’s highest rated political telecasts of the You Decide 2004 election season.

In making this announcement, FNC Executive Producer of Political Programming Marty Ryan said, “We are looking forward to working with the CBC Institute again during the 2008 campaign. The debates we conducted with the Institute during the 2004 campaign were among the most important and interesting of that cycle, and we expect these to be even better.”

FOX News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes added, “FOX News is proud to work with the CBC Institute in 2007 as we did in 2003 to present these two key debates which will provide a special forum for the candidates to present their ideas and allow voters to make informed decisions.”
(more…)

CNBC put out a release this afternoon highlighting special programming for April…

April is the cruelest month? Not on CNBC, America’s Business Channel. All month long, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, features special programming including:

• “Business Nation” (April 4th at 10pm & 1am ET) – An all-new edition of CNBC’s monthly one-hour newsmagazine with Chief Correspondent David Faber, features the stories behind the business headlines. On this edition of “Business Nation,” Faber reports on the war being waged in the toy industry between an American icon, Barbie, and a brash upstart, Bratz.

• “Mad Money w/Jim Cramer” (6pm & 11pm ET) – Jim Cramer takes his program on the road again with stops at Indiana University on Wednesday, April 4th and Georgia Tech on Tuesday, April 24th, as part of his popular “Back to School” tour.

• “Behind the Wheel”—CNBC’s auto industry reporter Phil LeBeau reports live from the 2007 New York International Auto Show from the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in New York City on April 4th and 5th. LeBeau takes an inside look at the hottest new luxury cars.
(more…)

MSNBC.com announced this afternoon that it will be using DoubleClik’s DART Motif® for Flash-in-Flash ad serving technology…

MSNBC.com, the leading news Web site, has joined with DoubleClick to launch an innovative new rich media ad service for its customers. By employing DoubleClick’s DART Motif® for Flash-in-Flash ad serving technology, MSNBC.com is providing its visitors with a rich advertising experience that will enhance the cutting-edge, award-winning Flash content experience MSNBC.com already provides. A number of major advertisers have already signed on with the new ad platform.

DoubleClick’s DART Motif for Flash-in-Flash ad serving technology enables publishers to leverage DoubleClick’s industry leading ad serving platform to display engaging and measurable ads within immersive Flash and video environments. MSNBC.com can now integrate rich media ads into their site simply and easily without complicated and lengthy integration. Also, the DART Motif for Flash-in-Flash solution comes with pre-built interactive ads that include everything from familiar floating and expanding ads, to advanced formats like bugs, skins, and transitional ads.

“We are delighted to join with DoubleClick to offer this innovative advertising experience that reflects the creativity and innovation of our content,” said Kyoo Kim, vice president of sales for MSNBC.com. “In looking for a provider, we searched the marketplace and DoubleClick stood out with a solution that would benefit both our consumers and our advertisers. With more than 90% of MSNBC.com users Flash enabled, we’re excited to be working with the industry leader in providing complementary Flash advertising to our vast amount of Flash content.”
(more…)

Salon’s Rebecca Traister has a not at all favorable profile of Red Eye’s Rachel Marsden…

Given the speed with which she moved from O’Reilly contributor to a regular gig, it is clear that someone at Fox really wanted Marsden, and really liked what they got. “Red Eye” senior producer Shelly Stevenson explained by phone that she didn’t make the initial call on hiring Marsden for the program, but as the executive on the show, is a big fan. “Political expertise is what she brings to the show,” said Stevenson. And it’s true that Marsden was recently called upon to explain a reference to the Gulf of Tonkin to her slack-jawed co-hosts. “She has very passionate opinions,” continued Stevenson, “she’s articulate, intelligent, and we get a lot of favorable mail about her; I think the viewers connect with her.” Stevenson also raved about Marsden personally, calling her “lovely, a team player who can’t do enough for the show. From the bottom of my heart I like her very much, and I respect her.” Stevenson confirmed that it would be fair to say that Fox is grooming Marsden.

Stevenson said she was “aware” of Marsden’s history in Canada, and added that “we make no story selection based on her past or anyone else’s past. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her be unfair about any type of story that might tread near those waters. I would expect her to be as even and fair as anyone else. I would expect no less of her.” Stevenson felt no compulsion to disclose Marsden’s past experiences with regard to sex harassment stories. “I would not ask anyone else to disclose her past,” she said. “And I think she’s not the only woman who has had to deal with this — it’s a big problem out there in the world and if anything it has probably given her sharper insights on issues of gender.” Later, when Salon followed up by clarifying that Marsden’s past included more than her initial claims of having been harassed, Stevenson replied via e-mail, “I do not know every detail of Rachel’s history in Canada, however I feel people should always be given the benefit of the doubt. She has clearly distinguished herself in the ensuing years and is entitled to move ahead with her future and the contributions she can make.”

Marsden did not speak for this story. After two attempts to steer me to Fox News publicists who repeatedly informed me that they had nothing to do with controlling her press coverage, since Marsden is technically a contributor, not a Fox News employee, Marsden stopped replying to my e-mails completely. For two weeks, I made many further requests to speak to her both directly and through the network, with no luck.

This morning on CNN Newsroom, Kyra Phillips reported on going out on patrol with the Iraqi border police looking for drug smugglers. Transcript follows…

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: War in Iraq. A new enemy emerges — drug money helping fuel the insurgency.

CNN’s Kyra Phillips is tracking that angle. She is live now from Baghdad.

Kyra, how seriously do investigators actually take this?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Heidi, here in Iraq, if you’re the head of a drug ring and you’re caught, without question you die for your crime. We’re on patrol with the Iraqi border police. They’re looking for drug smugglers.
(more…)

The Washingtonian and FishbowlDC have photos from the pre and post Correspondents dinner parties…

UPDATE: More CNN after party photos from FishbowlDC…

Everyone’s talking about the new JibJab cartoon which mocks TV News…or…if you’re Mike Allen…Fox News (way at the bottom of the article). I think it went after the low hanging fruit and played it safe (with the exception of the Brittney Spears joke). It could have been better. A lot better.

The GW Hatchet’s Marissa Bialecki writes about last night’s Lou Dobbs special…

CNN’s Lou Dobbs hosted a live discussion Wednesday night in Jack Morton Auditorium focusing on the crisis of drug and alcohol abuse within America’s youth.

About 200 students, faculty members and invited guests attended the nationally broadcast program entitled “The War Within.” Dobbs, who called illegal drugs in America “weapons of mass destruction,” spoke with experts and other guests, including University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, about the causes of substance abuse and its prevention and treatment.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul J. Gough writes about last night’s Radio & TV Correspondents Dinner…

Honored with awards were Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, Fox News journalists kidnapped in Gaza last year, and NBC News investigative journalist Lisa Myers and her team for a series on a Pentagon procurement scandal. Centanni accepted the David Bloom Award from ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, who won last year.

Centanni thanked Bush and Secretary of State Condolezza Rice for their efforts in getting he and Wiig released, along with Fox News Channel CEO Roger Ailes and senior vp John Moody, among others. Ailes received a Radio TV News Directors Foundation press freedom award earlier this month for his tireless work on behalf of Wiig and Centanni.

The event brought together a lot of the media and political elite, including the president and first lady Laura Bush as well as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Sen. John Kerry, Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly, Williams and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and CBS’ Bob Schieffer.

It drew onlookers to The Washington Hilton, who gawked and spoke to a number of celebrities.

“Wolf, we love your show,” said one of a number of people who rushed to CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer as he left the dinner and walked into the lobby.

KSL’s Richard Piatt and Sheryl Worsley write about the Sean Hannity/Rocky Anderson debate officially happening…

It’s about round five in the fight between Rocky Anderson and Sean, but the two agreed on today’s Doug Wright Show on a few details for the fight in person but not before the two got some jabs in while talking about an upcoming conversation.

Doug Wright does not want to moderate this upcoming debate. Today’s exchange pretty much spells out why. Sean and Rocky just can’t resist going after each other, even when it comes to some pretty basic stuff.

Sean Hannity: “Is the mayor really there or is he holding a protest or having a press conference?”
Doug Wright: “He’s right here.”
Rocky Anderson: “Hey Sean, I’m right here doing the city’s business.”
Sean Hannity: “Oh, it’s about time.”

It was a 20-minute exchange peppered with insults back and forth as they honed details of the debate format.

Chris Jansing does the “Pony-Hawk”…

Somebody’s going to feeze that and put it on YouTube…I know it!

Yup.

CNN’s Baghdad Bureau Chief Cal Perry blogs about a bombing of Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zubaie’s compound and what happened behind the scenes to report it…

I’m filming much in part because my personal security guards helped me past the very shaky and stunned guard force. We slowly made our way past guards running in each direction, showing our palms the entire time.

I’m keeping the camera low by my legs, to draw less attention.

The head of security for the deputy prime minister has given me permission to film. Granted, he gave me the permission while he was washing blood from his face. Without question — you can see it on his face — he’s in a complete state of shock.

I’m only filming for about 2-3 minutes when we can feel the situation changing. The Iraqi police are on the way and will be here at any moment. We walk outside, and try to make our way around the building so I can get some video of the damage caused by a second explosion — a car bomb that quickly followed the suicide bomb.

It’s maybe 30 seconds before the Iraqi police arrive, and they’re even more jumpy than the ministry security who actually lived through the explosion. Usually Iraqi police fire into the air, an announcement of their arrival.

MSNBC came in fourth in the primetime Demo behind CNBC. The 10pm Countdown repeat came in last. O’Rielly was number one in the primetime Demo…

Cable News Ratings for March 28, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 833,000 viewers
CNN – 465,000 viewers
MSNBC – 281,000 viewers
CNBC – 254,000 viewers
HLN – 219,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,597,000 viewers
CNN – 854,000 viewers
MSNBC – 480,000 viewers
CNBC – 497,000 viewers
HLN – 410,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 218,000 viewers
CNN – 147,000 viewers
MSNBC –116,000 viewers
CNBC – 90,000 viewers
HLN – 93,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 300,000 viewers
CNN – 229,000 viewers
MSNBC – 184,000 viewers
CNBC – 190,000 viewers
HLN –142,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 710,000 viewers (301,000)
American Morning – 292,000 viewers (97,000)
Imus in The Morning- 296,000 viewers (97,000)
Robin & Co. – 147,000 viewers (91,000)
(more…)

Barrack Obama was interviewed today on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. Transcript higlights follow…

On the war in Iraq

BLITZER: If you’re president of the United States in January of 2009, and the situation is basically the same in Iraq as it is right now…

OBAMA: Right?

BLITZER: … what would be your immediate first step?

OBAMA: Well, the bill that I put in I think…

BLITZER: Assuming that bill doesn’t go.
(more…)

Lou Dobbs is testifying today on Capitol Hill. I didn’t know this. Did you know this? Well the National Association of Manufacturers sure knew this and as part of its “Dobbs Watch” (Dobbs Watch? Hey, do the folks at Olbermann Watch know about this?) Pat Cleary goes to town on Dobbs…

Lou is coming to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on — get this — Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade. Guess they didn’t have one on demagoguery. The topic is, “Trade, Foreign Policy and the American Worker,” vaguely fitting under the expansive jurisdiction of this committee. Funny, we thought the Ways and Means Committee handled trade. Truth is, Charlie Rangel is too smart to allow his committee to be used as a platform for a commentator with an ax to grind.

We’ll keep you posted on what Lou says, but just as a wild guess, we’re figuring he’ll continue to weave his yarn about the war on the middle class and continue to blame trade agreements for our trade deficit. He’s mostly wrong on the first point and flat wrong on the second (just check out this chart, if you don’t believe us), but as we always say, never let the facts get in the way of a good story — or your ratings.

The Owensboro Messenger Inquirer’s Suzi Bartholomy in a profile of hometown gal Caroline Shively interviews her mother Katie Lowing.

One day when she was in Israel she left her mother a message saying, “If you want to know where I am watch TV tonight.”

“She’s quite amazing,” Lowing said. “Rockets, bullets, no big deal to her.

“When she called from Baghdad I asked her what that noise was and she yelled ‘Hey guys, are they shooting at us or are we shooting at them,’ ” Lowing said. “She was more worried about becoming dehydrated from the heat than the shooting.”

“She’s always been fearless,” Lowing said. Once when she was coming home from UK, her car broke down on the toll road. “She hitched a ride home with a trucker named Torch,” Lowing said. “I don’t know where she got to be so brave; I’m scared of the dark.”

RCR Wireless News’ Matt Kapko has a Q&A with Time Warner Executive VP of Business Development Dennis Quinn regarding Turner networks’ mobile initiatives…

Q: Do you see more value in content created exclusively for the mobile environment or a re-packaging of your already well-established content?

A: I don’t know that it’s an either or. On our sports content you’ll see whether it’s PGA or it’s NASCAR, it’s kind of hard for me to take it and say I’m not going to provide the drama and the excitement and all of that adrenaline pump of a race or at least highlight some of those kind of things. But how do I then get you a really good picture where you can follow on the smaller screen? So in those situations we look and say, OK, how do we capture that emotion and do we use an application, do we build an app, how do we transport that data and telemetry and make it an experience that is one, complementary to the television experience in this case; two, that delivers on what that consumer expects of a NASCAR experience; and then three, enables us to deliver something we’re willing to stand behind—the quality and the character of what we’re used to delivering? … We have an audience around Anderson Cooper that is young, savvy, very educated, articulate and happens to be very pro-technology. So this gives me a perfect opportunity to take those types of users who index very high on early adopters of all kinds of technology, so they’re prone to be people that are downloading and watching stuff on their handhelds. Well, I want to be able to capture what’s the best about him and bring them there, not necessarily show an entire Anderson Cooper show. So how do you do that in a way that delivers for that audience with the character and the content they want? And so it could be short-form clip or it can be done in a way that you can watch it in a condensed period of time. I’m not saying that we condense things, I’m saying in an appropriate period of time.