The Caucus’ Kate Phillips writes about Jesse Jackson changing his mind on FNC hosting a CBC Institute debate…

In moderating his view, he said, he had been engaged in discussions with some members of the black caucus, and he came to understand their desire to reach a broader audience.

Mr. Jackson emphasized that Fox should not be held up for criticism alone; rather he believed the debate negotiations during the presidential campaign could be a lever to pressure all the networks to to hire more African-Americans, both on-camera and off. (This is an issue Mr. Jackson has pushed across a broad spectrum of employers, from Wall Street to retail, to journalism.)

Following up on this, MSNBC issued a statement on Don Imus’ insensitive comments which I caught on my local NBC affiliate’s 5pm newscast…

While simulcast on MSNBC, “Imus in the Morning” is not a production of the cable network and is produced by WFAN radio. As Imus makes clear every day, his views are not those of MSNBC. We regret that his remarks were aired on MSNBC and apologize for those offensive comments.

Johnny Dollar has the video of Geraldo Rivera and Bill O’Reilly going toe to toe in a huge argument over the case of an illegal alien drunk driver accused of killing two girls. Holy cow…you’d think they were going to go to blows…

Bob Norman blogs that in his opinion CNN is ripping off a Miami New Times story on Paula Zahn Now tonight…

Check out this story, bylined by Zarrella and abetter Patrick Oppman, that is going to hit the air tonight on the primetime Paula Zahn Now show. It’s a direct, unadulterated ripoff of this story in the Miami New Times story by Isaiah Thompson that was published on March 8.

FNC will be airing “The Passion: Facts, Fictions, and Faith” on Sunday April 8th at 4pm ET. The FNC website has more information on the special here and there is a photo essay as well…

CNN announced that it will air “What would Jesus really do” on Friday April 6 at 8pm ET…

CNN contributor Roland Martin hosts an hour-long special on Friday, April 6, at 8 p.m. (ET), discussing how Jesus might solve modern-day problems including the war in Iraq, global warming, the gap between the rich and the poor and other contemporary challenges facing the world

Guests including Rick Warren, author of the best-selling A Purpose Driven Life; the Rev. Jerry Falwell; Bishop T.D. Jakes and preacher Paula White will join Martin in a frank discussion about today’s burning issues. The program will consider such issues as whether the war in Iraq has become a holy war, the direction of the Christian political movement, the lingering questions about whether Jesus was married and the significance of the Easter bunny and the resurrection of Jesus.

Martin, a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate and a Chicago-based radio host, joined CNN in March. He is also a commentator for TV One Cable Network and hosts The Roland S. Martin Show on WVON/1690AM in Chicago each weekday. He is the author of Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith and Speak, Brother! A Black Man’s View of America.

XM Satellite Radio announced that it would dedicate a special channel for Larry King the week of his 50th Anniversary…

XM, the nation’s leading satellite radio service with more than 7.6 million subscribers, announced today it will offer a special channel to celebrate the life and career of legendary broadcaster Larry King in honor of his 50th anniversary in broadcasting. The channel, “LARRY! A Celebration of Larry King’s 50 Years in Broadcasting” (XM 130), will air over the course of five days, beginning 12 midnight ET, April 16 through April 20, exclusively on XM.

“LARRY!” (XM 130) will air unforgettable moments and interviews spanning his earlier broadcasting years on Miami’s WIOD radio station and his recent work as host of “Larry King LIVE!” on CNN. Highlights from the special programming include some of his most memorable interviews with celebrities and newsmakers, such as Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Johnny Cash, Oprah Winfrey, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Gregory Peck, Richard Nixon, Larry Flynt and many others. XM also will air an exclusive interview with Larry King hosted by Bob Edwards and recorded during King’s daily breakfast ritual at Los Angeles’ famous Nate n’ Al’s Deli. The interview will premiere Monday, April 16 at 8 a.m. ET on “The Bob Edwards Show,” with additional encores features throughout the day as well as on “LARRY!” (XM 130).
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The New York Times’ Bill Carter writes about the changes to American Morning…

Mornings have been the only recent weak spot for CNN, Mr. Klein said. He said the network had posted gains for the rest of its schedule, especially among the audience group chiefly sought by news programs, viewers ages 25 to 54.

The numbers back him up. Though CNN still trails Fox News Channel almost everywhere, several CNN programs have done well this quarter when compared with the same period last year. Lou Dobbs’s newscast at 6 p.m., for example, is up 60 percent in that 25-to-54 age group. Wolf Blitzer’s program “The Situation Room” has also had a strong first quarter, up 46 percent over last year.

CNN, which has been dominated by Fox News Channel for years, was also promoting a victory for Mr. Blitzer over Fox in the 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. slot among that audience group, the first time CNN had such a victory over Fox since 2002.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul J. Gough writes about the Cheatwood news as a big loss for CNN…

Joel Cheatwood, the news executive who used tabloid techniques to great success in local TV, jumped CNN for a post at Fox News Channel.

The move was confirmed by CNN.

Cheatwood joined CNN in 2003 as a program development executive and had been an adviser to CNN president Jon Klein. He had brought local anchor Rick Sanchez to CNN and, most recently, was consulted by Klein when Klein wanted to bring FNC anchor Kiran Chetry to CNN. (Chetry was hired Wednesday to become co-anchor of “American Morning.”)

Cheatwood was one of CNN’s main weapons in the battle against Fox News Channel, which overtook CNN long before Klein and Cheatwood arrived on the scene.

As does TVWeek’s Michelle Greppi…

Inside CNN, there is some sensitivity about the fact that Mr. Cheatwood leaves with knowledge of everything from plans for covering the 2008 election campaigns to the results of recent programming reviews and strategy.

“He knows everything. It’s an immense loss,” said an industry source familiar with Mr. Cheatwood’s role and accomplishments at CNN, including developing the CNN Headline News programs for Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck.

FNC’s Amy Kellogg pens an article about yesterday’s Ahmadinejad press conference…

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched into a religious sermon about good and evil, tyranny and humanity, on Day 13 of captivity for the 15 British sailors, I really wondered where this would end.

Were we in for more of the same, a lashing out at the West and songs of praise for Iran, all wound up in religious discourse? And what about the sailors? We were all craving some news as turbaned intelligence chiefs and gray-suited Foreign Ministry officials and frantic journalists piled into the auditorium of the Presidential Palace under a big poster with the slogans of Muslim Unity Week.

Instead of news, we all thought were in for a lengthy critique of Western policy in the Middle East, Ahmadinejad-style. The press conference would take some unexpected twists, but it would take the better part of an hour to get to the headline.

FNC’s release on Joel Cheatwood joining the network as VP of Development…

Veteran television executive Joel Cheatwood has joined FOX News as the Vice President of Development, announced Roger Ailes, Chairman and CEO, FOX News. In this newly created position, Cheatwood will develop programming for FOX News Channel (FNC) and the soon to be launched FOX Business Channel (FBC).

In making the announcement, Ailes said, “Joel has a strong reputation in the industry for his good ideas and the ability to execute them. He also possesses a wealth of experience he can share with us.”

Cheatwood added, “The first decade of FOX News represents one of the industry’s all-time success stories and there’s every indication the best is yet to come. I am thrilled to be a part of a network that is synonymous with innovation, creativity, and risk-taking — it’s a television producer’s dream.”
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The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz writes again about the story…

Roberts, a Canadian, said the assignment is a return to his roots as host of the program “Canada A.M.,” as well as his days co-anchoring an early-morning CBS show with Meredith Vieira, now the co-host of NBC’s “Today.” He said he would still do reporting by anchoring from the road.

“I don’t think it has to be hard news like you’re taking Robitussin,” Roberts said. “A morning show is about engaging the audience. I don’t think you should be doing lighter stuff. I’ve never figured out what any viewer gets out of a fitness segment or cooking pancakes on the plaza.”

Chetry, for her part, talked about the importance of “water cooler” topics. “There are lots of big and daunting issues, but there’s also the quirky side of life, and we’re not going to ignore that either,” she said. “As long as there’s a healthy mix, hopefully people will tune in.”

Chetry, a University of Maryland graduate, began her career at the Montgomery County station News 21 in Rockville, and said she got her big break covering a murder when the regular correspondent was at the dentist. She said she is accustomed to early hours because she anchored a morning show in Sacramento and worked the overnight shift at Fox News.

Chetry denied that she acted unprofessionally in pushing for a morning-show shot while renegotiating her Fox News deal, as Fox officials charged in refusing to renew her contract. “I played by the rules,” she said. “I will always be grateful for the opportunities there, but it was time to go.”

This morning the formerly captive British Sailors arrived in England. Both CNN and FNC covered the event live extensively. MSNBC on the other hand took a circuitous route and hardly left Imus in the Morning. It teased viewers with video of London’s Heathrow airport (I’m assuming it was Heathrow but I don’t know for sure) while Imus and Charles would make occasional references to the reason for the video. But nobody from MSNBC’s anchor team came on the air to cover the story. Then Tony Blair started speaking and all hell broke loose…

MSNBC waited until a commercial break to cut in to Blair’s comments. But there was no audio for over twenty seconds. Then video came on the screen of the plane arriving (live? not sure) and shortly thereafter Blair’s audio just cut out. And it stayed out and MSNBC abandoned the whole thing and returned to Imus who tore the network a new one…

Imus: Jeeze…you’re killing me here…

Charles: Rather confusing

Bernard: Technical Malfunction

Imus: It’s just no wonder that MSNBC essentially sucks. Except for us. Really, I mean…it’s absurd. I’m sitting here and Chernoff’s trying to talk to me and I’m hearing Tony Blair and the commercials. And they can’t shut it off. I mean do they have any engineers in this building? Where are they?

Off camera: Obviously there was a mistake (garbled)…

Imus: Well no but it happens all of the time. If this was just an isolated incident I wouldn’t say anything about it. And god forbid if you go away for a few days and you come back and nothing works. I mean that is a disaster.

UPDATE: After a segment with “Bill Clinton” Imus went to Ned Colt to report on the story that went off without a hitch…

TV Guide’s Stephen Battaglio…

TVGuide.com: How many U.S. presidents have you interviewed? King: I’ve interviewed every U.S. president since Richard Nixon, so that’s seven.

TVGuide.com: Your favorite?
King: It’s hard to pick a favorite amongst presidents. I liked Nixon for his sharp mind, Ford for his everyman manner, Carter for his brain, Reagan for his storytelling ability, George H.W. Bush for his generosity of spirit, Clinton for his charismatic brilliance, and George W. Bush for his perseverance.

TVGuide.com: Who has turned down the most invitations to come on your show?
King: Prince Charles has turned down all of my requests. I keep trying, though!

TVGuide.com: Anyone ever show up drunk (besides Anna Nicole Smith)?
King: I’m sure guests have. I just never knew for sure.

Johnny Dollar has the audio from yesterday’s John Gibson radio show where Gibson notes something outrageous Don Imus said on the air and wonders why he wasn’t yanked off it for it.