The Huffington Post’s Erin Kotocki Vest beats up on CNN for covering Anna Nicole’s Autopsy results…

CNN, you are smoking crack. I am now going to make fun of you, much like I make fun of Fox News. You are now both to be held up as examples of how NOT to be journalists.

At least Fox is talking about the UK/Iran thing right now. You are discussing what Anna’s lawyer/lover/whatever feels today.

REALLY?

I’m sorry, but is your news director out sick or something? Are you letting the interns run the place today? FOX IS DOING A BETTER JOB AT NEWS TODAY THAN YOU ARE.

CNN came in fourth in the Primetime Demo behind MSNBC and HLN. MSNBC came in fourth in the Total Day Demo behind CNN and HLN. 360 came in fourth in the Demo at 10pm. On The Record led the evening in The Demo.

Cable News Daily Ratings for March 23, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 885,000 viewers
CNN – 466,000 viewers
MSNBC – 291,000 viewers
CNBC – 214,000 viewers
HLN – 290,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,856,000 viewers
CNN – 585,000 viewers
MSNBC –537,000 viewers
CNBC- 125,000 viewers
HLN – 603,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 250,000 viewers
CNN – 160,000 viewers
MSNBC – 116,000 viewers
CNBC –75,000 viewers
HLN – 128,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 472,000 viewers
CNN – 136,000 viewers
MSNBC – 221,000 viewers
CNBC – a scratch with 47,000 viewers
HLN – 181,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 818,000 viewers (197,000)
American Morning – 323,000 viewers (114,000)
Imus in the Morning– 308,000 viewers (115,000)
Robin & Co. – 192,000 viewers (112,000)
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Jonathan Hoenig on SmartMoney.com comments on the Jim Cramer bruhaha.

UPDATE: In the half hour since I posted this and was driving home, I recalled seeing Hoenig on CNBC recently. I usually don’t get to watch much CNBC during market hours but I caught Hoenig on there recently. So my original comments regarding Hoenig’s relationship with FNC, particularly his appearances on Cashing In and Your World, and lack of disclosure thereof in the article, aren’t that big a deal to me any more. If Hoenig had been only analyzing with FNC, then, yes, disclosure would have been in order. But obviously that is not the case.

What’s downright astonishing is that Cramer is now employed and widely promoted by CNBC, the same network he seems to have repeatedly used over the years for seemingly unethical and potentially criminal activity. And TheStreet.com, where Cramer’s “Action Alerts Plus” subscription service is sold for $399.99 a year, publishes his trading recommendation even as he describes in the online broadcast, in his words, “the way the market really works.”

His insight into how money is really made? Quoting Cramer: “Hit the brokerage houses with a series of orders that can push it down, then leak it to the press, and then get it on CNBC — that’s also very important. And then you have a kind of a vicious cycle down. It’s a pretty good game.” It makes me wonder if this sort of conduct explains his much-touted record of success in the money-management business.

As a hedge-fund manager myself, I’m most dismayed by his comment that, “What’s important when you’re in that hedge-fund mode is to not do anything remotely truthful.” What an outrageous and ugly slap in the face to the thousands of investment professionals who, apparently unlike Cramer, don’t participate in such nefarious and suspect schemes to make a buck.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, while traveling in Jerusalem, sat down for an exclusive interview with FNC’s Steve Centanni. In the interview, airing tonight on Special Report with Brit Hume at 6pm ET, Rice discussed the Mid-East peace negotiation progress.

The Palestinian people need to know that if they make the right choices, they will be able to get a Palestinian state. And the Israeli people need to know that right choices will lead to peace.

Schaeffers Investment Research’s Bill Feingold opines on the Jim Cramer controversy…

I like Jim Cramer. He’s a smart, entertaining guy, and while his show is hardly the be-all and end-all of understanding markets, I do think he’s providing a reasonably useful service in helping investors see what goes on behind the scenes.

Having said that…smart people do dumb things all the time, and Cramer’s revelations of some of his “tricks of the trade” in trying to manipulate prices were dumb. The basic and legitimate premise behind his show is that the little guy, armed with a decent understanding of the game, can do as well or better than the big guys. I believe this, largely because the little guy or gal only has to answer to himself or herself, not to an audience of supposed fiduciaries who often are more interested in protecting their own jobs than doing the right thing for their investors.

Cramer should know, though, that a few throwaway comments in the wrong hands quickly become a maelstrom of accusation and grandstanding. The real facts are actually quite simple. In the long term, stocks (and other investments) are going to go where the fundamentals take them. During a few days, weeks or months, or even the occasional year, market noise dictates price. This is nothing new. The classic Reminiscenses of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre and supposedly about Jesse Livermore, was all about moving prices in the short-term.

Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani will be appearing on CNBC’s Kudlow and Company at 5pm ET. CNBC already released a transcript of the interview…

KUDLOW: Why do people say to me, they don’t know who the pro-Stock Market, pro-investor class candidate is. Many of the Democrats have been attacking rich people. They never talk well of the Stock Market. That even on the Republican side, no one is sure who’s going to be the pro-Stock Market guy. Is that going to be you?

Mr. GIULIANI: Boy, this is–as the mayor of New York, I consider that a home town industry. I used to talk about the finance industry being to New York what the steel industry is to Pittsburgh 20 or 30 years ago. It’s our home town industry. It’s the thing that dominates 30 to 40 percent of the economy of New York City. It seems to me that’s also true of the United States. And of course, it’s the way in which we develop capital and drive these tremendous inventions, creations. I’ve always been in favor of a low capital-gains tax. In fact, as mayor of New York, I used to try to urge–actually removing the capital-gains tax. I thought it would be one of the best special benefits of New York. I couldn’t quite get the Congressional delegation to agree with that. But the idea of you lower the capital-gains tax and if you do it smartly, you’re going to end up with more revenues from the lower tax than you do from the higher tax. So I do think that if you look at my background and you look at my experience as mayor, I probably have the most aggressive, fiscal conservative record, supply side record. I’m probably the only one that’s really practiced it.

In a rare TV interview Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott will be appearing on Your World with Neil Cavuto on Tuesday

FOX News Channel’s Neil Cavuto will conduct a live exclusive interview with Wal-Mart CEO, Lee Scott, on Tuesday, March 27th during Your World with Neil Cavuto (4-5PM/ET).

The interview will cover a broad range of topics, including: Wal-Mart’s recent initiatives with its environmental plan; its attempted foray into banking; the new ads attacking the retail chain as being a threat to security; and Scott’s perspective on the economy and current state of the market. He will also address recent criticism the retailer has received this past year from unions and presidential candidates.

MSNBC announced issued a release this afternoon regarding the Thursday March 29th premiere of Robart Bazell’s “Wounds of War”…

NBC News Chief Science Correspondent Robert Bazell’s “Wounds of War” premieres March 29th at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT on MSNBC. “Wounds of War” takes an unparalleled look at American combat support hospitals in Iraq and their extraordinary staff of doctors and nurses who serve as heroes to many servicemen and women.

For almost two weeks, Bazell gained unprecedented access to every aspect of care given to our fighting men and women. Bazell interviews wounded soldiers, as well as the doctors and nurses who care for them. Also in the one-hour documentary, he tells the story of a five-year-old Iraqi girl who was caught in crossfire, but saved by the compassion (and expertise) of the American doctors and civilian volunteers. Bazell also shows how these medical professionals consider any life – even the enemy’s – worth saving; the hospitals care for American and Iraqi soldiers, as well as civilians and insurgents, on a humanitarian basis. And he takes a look at all the hidden effects of the most popular insurgent weapon in Iraq, the improvised explosive device, or IED. “Wounds of War” includes compelling and sometimes graphic footage from the frontlines of war to the emergency rooms where lives are saved.
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CNN issued a release on this week’s Lou Dobbs Specials airing at 8pm ET on selected days this week…

CNN anchor Lou Dobbs takes several of the nation’s hot-button issues – immigration, addiction crisis and the war on the middle class – to the American public next week with a series of prime-time special reports, in addition to his regularly scheduled broadcasts. Dobbs investigates controversial prosecution of two U.S. Border Patrol agents on Tuesday, March 27, and follows that up with two live forums from Washington, D.C., on America’s abuse and addiction to drugs and alcohol and the war on the middle class.

On Tuesday, Dobbs will travel to the federal correctional facility in Yazoo City, Miss., to continue his reporting on Jose Campeon and Ignacio Ramos, two former U.S. Border Patrol agents found guilty of shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler attempting to cross the border in 2005. Dobbs investigates the controversial prosecution as well as claims that Ramos was beaten in jail. Dobbs examines the effort of U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to pass legislation that would pardon Ramos.

Dobbs then travels to Washington, D.C., to continue his national dialogue on the state of drug and alcohol abuse in the United States and the war on the middle class. Before a live audience at George Washington University on Wednesday, Dobbs – as part of his on-going “The War Within” series – discusses the fight against drug addiction and alcohol abuse. On Thursday, Dobbs will discuss health care, education, taxes and other issues impacting the middle class as part of “The War on the Middle Class” forum.

All the nets were covering the live press conference announcing the cause of death for Anna Nicole Smith. CNN, HLN, and FNC all dumped out of the conference before it ended. MSNBC stayed with the presser long past the point the other networks dropped it, though FNC and HLN were still talking to analysts about the what it all meant medically.

The GW Hatchet’s David Ceasar writes about Lou Dobbs’ upcoming appearances this week at George Washington University for his primetime specials…

Jack Morton Auditorium will be home to two live television shows hosted by CNN’s Lou Dobbs Wednesday and Thursday night.

The hour-long special editions of “Lou Dobbs tonight” will be nationally aired at 8 p.m. from the Media and Public Affairs Building. The free event is open to students, faculty and staff, and the University will also invite community members and special guests, said Media Relations Director Tracy Schario.

Wednesday’s show, billed “The War Within,” will feature panel discussion on drug and alcohol abuse and the prevalence of narcotics along the U.S.-Mexico border. Thursday’s discussion of the “War on the Middle Class” will include debate on issues related to education, immigration, jobs and healthcare.

The St. Petersberg Times’ Eric Deggans writes about Paula Zahn Now’s recent stories on race and racism in America…

There are times when Zahn’s reports feel a little too gee-whiz - it’s hardly news to some people that racism still exists in small-town America or that some black people are troubled by the values of gangsta rap. And the panel discussions too often seem like the old shouting matches on CNN’s canceled Crossfire.

But Zahn’s show also offers stories on race and social issues I haven’t seen elsewhere in cable news. And for an anchor who seems to have struggled to find a role since arriving from Fox News in 2001, this new focus provides a potent identity for Zahn at a time when she may need it most.

“My hope is when the audience leaves us after an hour they will have learned something - certainly they’ll be much more aware of how much divisiveness there is out there,” she said. “The e-mails I’ve read tell me our audience is happy we’re doing the stories. . . . They say, ‘Thank you for at least starting a dialogue.’ So we’ll keep it coming.”

The New Orleans Times-Picayune’s Darran Simon writes about The Larry King Cardiac Foundation joining with the American College of Cardiology Foundation to launch a fundraising drive to train more cardiologists…

Twenty years ago, after a marathon day of broadcasting and smoking cigarettes between station breaks, Larry King was whisked away to George Washington University Hospital. Four months later, in December 1987, he underwent quintuple bypass heart surgery.

The following year, King established The Larry King Cardiac Foundation, which pays for the heart treatments for those who can’t afford them. On Sunday, the CNN talk-show host and his nonprofit joined with the American College of Cardiology Foundation to launch the Campaign for the Future, a new fundraising effort to train more cardiologists to treat the rising number of people suffering from heart disease.

The announcement was made at the American College of Cardiology’s 56th annual Scientific Session in New Orleans.

King, 73, the campaign’s honorary chairman, moderated a panel of doctors at the Loews New Orleans Hotel via satellite Sunday; he is still recovering from surgery to clear an obstructed artery in the right side of his neck.

TVWeek’s Michelle Greppi notes that news events affect everything…even advertiser schmooze-fests…

Chris Matthews was supposed to spend a couple of hours Tuesday night schmoozing with ad sales clients on behalf of his recently renewed syndicated “The Chris Matthews Show.”

He was to anchor “Hardball With Chris Matthews” live on MSNBC from a small studio on the third floor at NBC Universal’s 30 Rock headquarters and then take the express elevators to Top of the Rock atop the building, where Matthews’ executive producer Nancy Nathan was chatting up guests.

It would all have been so easy-breezy had not President Bush declared during the last 15 minutes of Mr. Matthews’ live telecast that Democrats on the Hill would never get to question advisers Karl Rove and Harriet Miers under oath.