The Jefferson City News Tribune notes that Sean Hannity will be the guest speaker at the Vitae Caring Foundation’s 15th Anniversary Special Celebration…

Sean Hannity will be the guest speaker at the Vitae Caring Foundation’s 15th Anniversary Special Celebration, hosted by Don and Ruth Ann Schnieders, at 5:30 p.m. April 17 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City.

This is the first year tickets have been made available to the public.

General reservations will be accepted March 8-April 10 by calling (573) 634-2043. Reservations will be confirmed when non-tax deductible payment of $100 is received, either by credit or debit card or check or money order.

Johnny Dollar recounts something odd that happened on this afternoon’s Big Story…

Just now Gibson was interviewing this guy Eng, an “Asian supremecist” who wrote columns on why he hates blacks, why he hates whites, etc. At one point he said:

I hate whites because most of them are Christians, and…

…then the audio went out for a few seconds, and he’s a fast talker so I couldn’t get anything trying to lip-read. When it came back, he was finishing a sentence:

…a pathetic religion.

Did they have him on delay and had to bleep something troublesome? Or just an audio glitch?

UPDATE: Dollar now has the video. It sure seems like a seven second delay incident to me because it wasn’t just his audio that cut out but Gibson’s as well.

Cable News Daily Ratings for March 2, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 987,000 viewers
CNN – 661,000 viewers
MSNBC – 401,000 viewers
CNBC – 293,000 viewers
HLN – 296,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,835,000 viewers
CNN – 1,068,000 viewers
MSNBC – 449,000 viewers
CNBC – 387,000 viewers
HLN – 546,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 327,000 viewers
CNN – 242,000 viewers
MSNBC – 164,000 viewers
CNBC – 106,000 viewers
HLN – 120,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 469,000 viewers
CNN – 328,000 viewers
MSNBC – 190,000 viewers
CNBC – 171,000 viewers
HLN – 178,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 904,000 viewers (394,000)
American Morning – 524,000 viewers (262,000)
Imus in the Morning– 416,000 viewers (130,000)
Robin & Co. – 179,000 viewers (87,000)
(more…)

Eat The Press’ Sklar gives CNN a good going over for firing an intern who had a password protected, closed membership blog. There’s also some sarcasm…

Is it injustice? One the one hand, the perils of posting publicly — or even divulging privately for the purpose of posting publicly — about your workplace are well-documented. CNN, fearful of being overtaken by Fox, is right to be protective of its secrets. Oh, wait.

CNN International announced this afternoon that it will premiere a new half-hour monthly series on the global movie business called “The Screening Room” on March 30th.

Hosted by British television presenter Myleene Klass, ‘The Screening Room’ features a mix of revealing insights, intelligent interviews and on-location reporting from film festivals and red-carpet events. From independent and world cinema to blockbusters and documentaries, each month ‘The Screening Room’ offers movie news, reviews and global charts.

Each show explores the art of the world’s most talented actors, directors, composers and screenwriters. From L.A. to London, Tokyo to Tribeca, Sydney to Sundance, the show will go to the essential film festivals. Also, ‘The Screening Room’ covers in-depth features ranging from animation, documentaries and short films to issues such as the perils of piracy.

“This is an important addition to our suite of feature shows, which offers a compelling mix of programming. Every month ‘The Screening Room’ will go to Hollywood and beyond to bring the most compelling and dynamic aspects of the film world to CNN’s vast international audience,” said Rena Golden, senior vice president of CNN International. “With our global reach, CNN is ideally placed to travel the globe and cover stories from the movie business in every continent.”
(more…)

Mad Money with Jim Cramer has its own web page section now. CNBC put a release out on it…

So if you can’t watch Cramer on TV — or if you just couldn’t keep up during the Lightning Round (we know, it happens) – log on to the official “Mad Money” web page every day by simply logging onto CNBC.com and scrolling to the “Mad Money” section. There you can get caught up on all of Cramer’s advice, as well as his latest picks and pans.

Most importantly, Mad Cap Recap provides summaries of each night’s “Mad Money” in real time, the first program with a synchronized weblog, so viewers don’t miss a beat.

CNBC kicked off its 1 million dollar Portfolio Challenge today…

Pick Hot Stocks. Win a Cool Million. Beginning today, aspiring portfolio moguls can turn 1 Million “CNBC Bucks” into a Grand Prize of $1 Million US Dollars in the first-ever “CNBC.com Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge” (CNBC.com). In addition, 10 weekly winners will each earn $10,000 based on their portfolio prowess.

Contestants can register online at the new CNBC.com to receive their 1 Million “CNBC Bucks.” The Portfolio Challenge begins today and contestants can join the challenge and be eligible for prizes through May 7th. CNBC anchors will provide play-by-play commentary throughout the contest and announce the weekly winners.

“The CNBC.com Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge allows anyone to build a Million Dollar fantasy portfolio into a real Million Dollar deal,” said Tom Clendenin, Vice President, Marketing, CNBC. “With our challenge, everyone is on equal footing.”
(more…)

The Australian’s Simon Canning writes about CNBC opening a bureau in Australia… (via TVNewser)

CNBC president and managing director Asia Pacific Jeremy Pink said the move to put anchors on the ground in Australia was a reflection of the increasing importance of Australia to global markets, often setting the trading trend for the day in the Asian region as the first market to open after the close of the New York Stock Exchange.

“We are working so that viewers can follow the money and the markets as they are happening around the world and the first market that opens every day around the world is Sydney,” Mr Pink said.

“It will allow viewers from around the world to see how the first market in the world is responding to what the US did overnight.

CNN Observations reviews CNN Mobile…

My first impression was that it appeared to be a CNN International approach, as opposed to CNN/US. Indeed, the logo at the top of the home page is that of CNNI. Overall, the page looked very good on screen. Obviously much of this depends on how your phone is set up, but - with what I believe are the default settings on mine - the screen was clear and uncluttered.

On going to the home page, you are presented with the CNNI logo and the top four stories. The top story of the four is in a grey box, and has a related image beside it.

On scrolling down, a banner for CNN.com’s international video news headlines round-up World News Now appears, which you can watch on the phone. Unfortunately, on trying to do this I was shown a message which told me that my phone could not support the video format used.

Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman interviews Neil Cavuto…

Pondering the business channel, I asked Cavuto what his biggest challenge was today. “Everything,” he answered wearily. Cavuto has been deluged with resumes and inquiries from prospective job-seekers.

Rupert Murdoch, the head of Fox parent News Corp. , joked that it could use its own “money honey,” a good-natured dig at Maria Bartiromo of CNBC.

Cavuto, though, would probably prefer to develop another Louis Rukeyser. Rukeyser, the late pioneer of business-news television, had a large following because of his trademark wit and sharp interviewing skills.

“He was always a likable, respected gentleman,” Cavuto commented.

Like his role model Rukeyser, he recognizes that the stock market isn’t always the main story.