The New York Times’ Bill Carter and Louise Story write about the firing…

Mr. Imus did not respond to phone messages last night. But Bo Dietl, a security expert who is a frequent guest on Mr. Imus’s show, said last night that he had just gotten off the telephone with the host, and that his mood was “very down, very upset about what occurred with MSNBC.”

“I said to him that they didn’t even give him time to talk to the victims,” Mr. Dietl said. “He agreed with me.”

Carter and Story have a tick tock of how the decision was reached…

NBC executives said last night that the decision had been made jointly by the NBC president, Jeff Zucker, and the president of NBC News, Steve Capus. Several NBC employees said that discussions about Mr. Imus had been going on throughout the company over the last few days, and the sentiment among the employees turned out to be a critical factor in the decision to fire him.
(more…)

Special weekday edition of the Question of the Week. What did you think of MSNBC’s coverage of the firing of Don Imus? Was it right down the middle? Too critical? Too soft?

Tittle Tattle Too’s Mike Baron reports that Diedre Imus’ book tour has been cancelled in the wake of Don Imus’ comments…

TMZ.com is reporting that Deirdre Imus, wife of Don, has nixed two high-profile live appearances on “The View” and “The Martha Stewart Show,” in the wake of Don’s racial slur that has caused the I-Man to become a radio pariah.

In fact, the whole book tour has been axed.

A rep for Deirdre Imus’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, states that the whole promotional tour for “Green This! Volume One: Greening Your Cleaning,” which was timed to coincide with the book’s debut yesterday, has been postponed indefinitely, reports the AOL entertainment website. “Because of the pressure that the Imus family has been under,” says the rep, “family is her first priority at this time.”

Greta Van Susteren will be exclusively interviewing parents of the Duke players tonight On The Record at 10pm ET. Van Susteren interviewed former Duke Lacrosse player Collin Finnerty’s parents, Kevin and Mary Ellen Finnerty regarding today’s press conference where it was announced that charges against the three former Duke players would be dropped.

An interview with Senator Barack Obama taped this afternoon aired on FNC’s “Special Report with Brit Hume” tonight. Obama discussed McCain’s newly announced position on the war:

I don’t doubt John McCain’s sincerity on this issue, but I doubt his wisdom on it. The fact is I’m somebody who opposed the war when it was unpopular to do so.

UPDATE: The Obama interview occurred with a group of reporters asking questions, one of whom was from FNC.

UPDATE2: The above update is incorrect and I got duped. Greg Sargent has the full details. So I again reiterate the question; why did Obama back out of FNC’s debate and make a statement about FNC’s coverage and then less than a week later do an interview on FNC?

MSNBC’s statement…

Effective immediately, MSNBC will no longer simulcast the “Imus in the Morning” radio program. This decision comes as a result of an ongoing review process, which initially included the announcement of a suspension. It also takes into account many conversations with our own employees. What matters to us most is that the men and women of NBC Universal have confidence in the values we have set for this company. This is the only decision that makes that possible. Once again, we apologize to the women of the Rutgers basketball team and to our viewers. We deeply regret the pain this incident has caused.

On Hardball David Gregory is interviewing Steve Capus right now. I haven’t seen a lot of Capus on the air but he looks totally morose, like he’d give anything not to be on the air talking about this.

Gregory: What happened in between when the decision making about the suspension and the decision to actually pull him off the air?

Capus: Ummm…the days are running together now…But we announced the suspension and I believed that Imus took some courageous and smart and appropriate actions with the level of apology that you saw from him on the air day after day; the fact that he went and sat with the Rev. Al Sharpton and spoke on his radio program - and perhaps more imporantly than speaking he listened. And I wanted that process to continue. At the same time internally we were having a lot of conversations about what all this meant. Some of those conversations led to some very interesting reporting on the Nightly News and the Today Show and MSNBC - on NBC stations all across the country - in fact on every media outlet. There’s been an opporunity to have a very important dialogue about race relations and everything that goes under that broad umbrella. And what has been going on is a lot of conversation, a lot of listening and a lot of talking and we came to this conclusion. I take no pride in it. I take no joy in this. It’s not a particularly happy moment, but it needed to happen.

UPDATE: The original title said this was effective Friday. This was based on information I read/heard that the two charity events Thursday and Friday would be carried. But the statement clearly says effective immediately. So that’s what I’m going on until I see contradictory evidence.

UPDATE 2: Al Sharpton is giving a statement. Why are there people waving behind him? Don’t they know what’s happening?

UPDATE 3: TVNewser has the full transcript of the Capus interview…

Imus pain = short term gain. 622,000 people tuned in yesterday to watch Imus. HLN beat CNN and MSNBC in the primetime Demo. Joe Scarborough beat Larry King in the Demo…

Cable News Ratings for April 10, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 976,000 viewers
CNN – 544,000 viewers
MSNBC – 443,000 viewers
CNBC – 241,000 viewers
HLN – 276,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,754,000 viewers
CNN – 755,000 viewers
MSNBC – 565,000 viewers
CNBC – 432,000 viewers
HLN – 584,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 282,000 viewers
CNN – 193,000 viewers
MSNBC –174,000 viewers
CNBC – 94,000 viewers
HLN – 128,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 396,000 viewers
CNN – 223,000 viewers
MSNBC – 216,000 viewers
CNBC – 197,000 viewers
HLN –243,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 883,000 viewers (277,000)
American Morning – 421,000 viewers (185,000)
Imus in The Morning- 622,000 viewers (232,000)
Robin & Co. – 216,000 viewers (140,000)
(more…)

Broadcasting & Cable’s Ben Grossman writes that Donny Deutsch said on CNBC’s Power Lunch that Don Imus was “done”…

“I think Imus is done,” Deutsch said Wednesday on CNBC’s Power Lunch, predicting that advertisers will continue to pull out of Imus’ show after defections of companies such as Procter & Gamble and Staples.

“How does a CEO of a company decide to stay?” Deutsch said. “What is the upside?”

Johnny Dollar has the video of Shepard Smith talking about the Duke Lacrosse case. It’s the most emotional I’ve seen Smith since Hurricane Katrina…

TVNewser has an “MSNBC tipster” commenting on Don Imus and how his harassment of the morning staff with loud music and sexual comments caused them to move out of the area.

There’s just one problem with that. That’s not the reason they moved out. ICN documented it back in February when Imus was griping about them moving out because he told one staffer who was being too loud while he was on the air to shut up and she didn’t take to that well and so they decided to clear out the area to keep it quieter for Imus. Now it’s entirely possible that the other stuff this tipster mentioned also occurred. But it wasn’t the reason that the morning staff was forced to move out.

UPDATE: I take it back. It wasn’t the “public reason” the morning staff moved. But word has reached ICN that once Imus moved in, the AM staff wanted out of there for over a year. So regardless of whether Imus telling a staffer to shutup on the air was the reason or not the staff moved, the staff wanted to move.

Dan Abrams subbed on Scarborough Country Monday and the show beat Countdown in the Demo.

Countdown 8pm - 198,000
Scarborough Country - 222,000

(ratings are Live + Same Day)

NBC announced that Anne Thompson had been named Chief Environmental Affairs correspondent…

As the national dialogue about the environment, climate change and its impact on public and social policy, and economic development comes to the forefront, NBC News President Steve Capus announced today that Anne Thompson will become Chief Environmental Affairs correspondent for NBC News, effective immediately.

“It speaks to the times that we live in that we felt the need to create this position,” said Capus. “So many of the issues that we focus on every day have an environmental element to them, and its top of mind in any number of ways. Anne’s laser focus on this issue, and NBC News’ commitment to covering it, is one more way that we distinguish ourselves in a crowded landscape of news and information.”

Thompson will report on such issues as alternative fuels, global warming, land usage and new technologies for all NBC News broadcasts including “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Today,” on MSNBC, and online at www.msnbc.com.
(more…)

Swampland has Ana Marie Cox saying she won’t do Imus in the Morning anymore…(via FishbowlDC)

I’ll have some more fleshed-out thoughts on the matter in the magazine this week, but for now, since many people have asked: No, I won’t be going on Imus anymore. Having said that, it’s not like they’ll be inviting me back.

Dennis Miller and Al Sharpton will be on The Factor to talk about Don Imus…

Johnny Dollar has audio from Today’s Radio Factor where White House spokesman and former FNCer Tony Snow phones in…

The AP has CBS Board of Directors member Bruce Gordon saying that Imus should be fired.

Gordon tells The Associated Press that Imus “crossed the line” and that his comments “go beyond humor.”

C-B-S has given Imus a two-week suspension after his remarks about the mostly black team triggered an uproar.

Gordon says he’s talked with C-B-S’ chief executive and hopes the company will fire Imus instead of letting him return after his suspension.

This morning Fred Thompson revealed during an interview with Neil Cavuto that he was diagnosed with lymphoma . The AP has more.

Republican Fred Thompson, the actor-politician who is considering a bid for president, said Wednesday he was diagnosed with lymphoma more than two years ago but the cancer shouldn’t affect his life expectancy.

In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto, the former Tennessee senator, 64, said doctors discovered that he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2004. He said the disease is in remission with no illness or symptoms. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t satisfied in my own mind as to the nature of it and the fact that not only will I have an average lifespan but in the meantime I will not be affected in anyway by it,” Thompson said. “Now of course nobody knows the future but that has been in the history for almost three years now in terms of no symptoms and no sickness.”‘

CNN has a tribute website up for Larry King…

As award-winning broadcaster Larry King marks his 50th anniversary in broadcasting, CNN.com has launched an extensive online tribute to this unrivaled master of the interview. This special section, located at www.CNN.com/LarryKing50, includes an interactive timeline depicting key moments in King’s life as well as a video archive of his most famous interviews on Larry King Live.

The CNN.com tribute coincides with CNN Worldwide’s multi-platform celebration of King, which includes an anniversary week of Larry King Live with Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, Bill Clinton and Bill Maher as well as a two-hour special presentation, CNN Presents: Larry King – 50 Years of Pop Culture on Wednesday, April 18, at 9 p.m. (ET)

In addition to the timeline and the interviews, the special Larry King section includes several galleries and features offering trivia and statistics about King; an audio quiz that invites users to listen to King ask some of his famous questions and then guess the guest who answers; and a behind-the-scenes look at King’s career as he talks about the evolution of broadcasting over the past 50 years and reveals his tips for a successful interview and the secret to a long career.

Laura Ingraham walked off Hannity & Colmes last night during a commercial break. The reason? Don Imus. Johnny Dollar’s summary…

The discussion on Imus was getting so rowdy that she just couldn’t take it any more. She said this is why I do radio, going to the break Hannity said something like and Laura Ingraham will give her take on that, and she replied, no I won’t, I’m boycotting. When they came back, she had left and Alan Colmes joked that Laura Ingraham is on a two-week suspension from H&C. I’ll bet Laura had something to say about it on the radio this morning.

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rosenthal wonders if there will be any presidential debate fallout over the Imus remarks…

In introducing a report for MSNBC’s “Countdown” on this latest controversy, host Keith Olbermann noted he has avoided Imus’ show for years.

“This has been a conscious decision, stemming from what I thought were inappropriate things he has said about various people,” Olbermann said.

What’s stunning is that so many folks have had no problem being on Imus’ program. His guest list has been filled with the political and media elite.

Given the current environment, that’s no small thing. Just in the past week, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards said they would not participate in a Sept. 23 presidential debate in Detroit that the Congressional Black Caucus Institute is staging with Fox News Channel. Some Democratic factions have urged the party’s candidates to avoid Fox News because Fox News doesn’t meet their standards.

Does the Imus I-mess mean candidates who have visited Imus before now should duck him and/or MSNBC?

Clinton said Friday, the day after Imus’ remarks about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, that she would take part in a debate April 26 along with Obama, Edwards and others. The debate’s sponsor: MSNBC.

Eat The Press unfairly ridicules MSNBC over the Larry Birkhead announcement here. I had MSNBC’s coverage Tivo’d so I replayed it last night and it’s not anywhere near as bad as ETP makes it out to be.

TMZ hosts the (obviously subsequently added) footage from MSNBC, which unwisely left a chryon reading “Biological Father of Anna Nicole’s daughter to be revealed shortly” on right through to Birkhead’s announcement…and then for a full two seconds after it before switching to the updated “Larry Birkhead is the father” version. Hey, in CableNewsWorld, that stuff matters.

To read the ETP review you’d think that MSNBC’s control room was asleep at the switch or something because they were so slow to react. But the reality was another matter altogether. ETP complained that MSNBC left the chryon up, saying that an announcement of who the father of Anna Nicole’s baby was was expected shortly, after Birkhead started speaking. The reality is that Birkhead walked right out from behind closed doors to the microphones and started speaking and less than ten seconds after starting speaking the news came out. So we’re talking at most 20 seconds from when Birkhead opens the doors to the announcement (it should be noted that the TMZ video does not include the full time period but only starts when Birkhead speaks). And also keep in mind that MSNBC didn’t know whether Birkhead himself would make the announcement or what he would say. Under the circumstances, leaving the chryon up until the announcement, was completely appropriate.

Also the delay from the moment the news came out to when the chryon changed was not two seconds. It was at most a little over one second. That’s about as fast as one could change a chryon when you don’t know in advance what the outcome is. The whole reason I watched the segment last night was because I was looking to see if they’d muff it and put up the wrong chryon (”Howard K. Stern is the father”) but they didn’t.

Honestly, aren’t there more important things to rake MSNBC over the coals for than a few measely seconds it takes to change a chryon?

The Washington Post’s Sridhar Pappu writes about Don Imus’ guests…

But, for Imus regulars, their appearances often have nothing to do with plugging anything. As CBS’s Jeff Greenfield said on yesterday’s show, “Imus in the Morning” has become a “salon where people talk about events in a way that they don’t talk about it in most other places.”

Imus urges them to digress, take shots (a running gag when he’s grilling a just-the-facts reporter — say, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell: “Wouldn’t you agree, Andrea, that Dick Cheney is a war criminal?”) and bring out aspects of their personal lives. It was on “Imus” that Schieffer, the venerable chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and host of “Face the Nation,” disclosed his bout with cancer.

So, too, did Newsweek’s Alter in 2004. During one appearance, Imus accused Alter of being in a bad mood, going so far as to ask whether Alter’s wife was beating him up. He sounded bad, Imus said. Yes, said Alter, he did feel bad — because of chemotherapy. Alter would go on to talk about his lymphoma on the show several times afterward.

“There is a clubbiness to it,” said Alter, who said Imus’s recent comments were “racist” and “despicable.” “It’s a strange hybrid of serious, in-depth coverage with locker room banter. Fortunately I have never been on the air when that banter went over the line.”

Still, Alter said, Imus will “do things like compare my wife to [attempted assassin of Gerald Ford] Squeaky Fromme, which I don’t necessarily appreciate, but it’s part of the usual tone in the show.”

TV Guide’s Stephen Battaglio weighs in with a rare opinion piece on Don Imus…

But even though he’s kept his job for now, Imus’ career is doomed. The problem is that for too long, he’s tried to have it both ways. In the 1970s and ’80s he was inappropriate, outrageous and hilarious. Even if you considered yourself an enlightened person, you listened and laughed as if you were part of a secret club.

Then something changed. In 1992 Bill Clinton needed an image boost during his first run for the White House, so he called in to the program. The results helped Imus become a kingmaker. His show became a mandatory stop for political candidates who wanted to humanize themselves. Imus, who had a lot more time on his hands after he stopped drinking and using cocaine, started reading books and watching C-Span. He’d rave about Meet the Press as if it were Grey’s Anatomy.

Meanwhile, the politically incorrect comedy continued unabated. The show became a bizarre mix of racist or sexist gags and serious segments with U.S. senators and Washington journalists. Imus doesn’t get huge ratings on MSNBC (although they’ve been better lately), and his audience on the radio isn’t as big as it used to be. But he has always been a favorite among older, upscale (and yes, mostly white) men who aren’t all that easy for advertisers to reach. It’s also an audience that still reads books. Journalists and politicians write a lot of books, and Imus is one of the few media outlets left that will give authors long segments, which can help them get on the best-seller list. That status has long inoculated him from any criticism of gags that crossed the line.

The New York Times’ Jacques Steinberg writes about the latest news regarding Don Imus…

Staples, the office supply chain, as well as Miralus Healthcare, a pharmaceutical company that makes a headache medication called HeadOn, said yesterday that they had asked MSNBC to remove their advertising from the television simulcast of Mr. Imus’s radio program and run their commercials elsewhere.

Some advertisers had left the Imus program before last week’s remarks. AT&T stopped advertising in January, and General Motors stopped its radio ads (though it still broadcasts TV commercials with the simulcast.)

Procter & Gamble went a step further yesterday. It said that, for now, it had withdrawn all its advertising from MSNBC’s daytime schedule — a potential loss of more than $560,000 on an annual basis for the Imus simulcast alone, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research.

“We have to think first about our consumers,” said Jeannie Tharrington, a spokeswoman for the consumer products manufacturer, “so anyplace where our advertising appears that is offensive to our consumers is not acceptable to us.”

Procter & Gamble’s response underscored a delicate balance that has existed on “Imus in the Morning” for years. For those who have been the beneficiaries of Mr. Imus’s largess, putting a product or a cause in his hands is not unlike a spin of the roulette wheel. Sometimes, he will talk about someone after a thoughtful 12-minute interview of Senator John Kerry or Senator John McCain that is as substantive or illuminating as any on programs like “Meet the Press.”

Page Six dishes that Anderson Cooper is getting a new deal for a lot more money…

CNN must love to reward underachievers. Not only did the sagging news network throw tens of millions of bucks into an ad campaign that failed to boost Anderson Cooper’s ratings, now an insider says it’s set to pay the man Fox News dubbed the “Paris Hilton of anchors” a deal worth $50 million over five years. Cooper “just got an incremental amount added on to his original contract to keep him happy for the next two years and then will make a much larger amount for the following three years - all of which will be worth $50 million,” a Cooper spy told us. A rep for CNN declined to comment.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Joanne Weintraub has an interview with Larry King…

“I can certainly make a case that the terrible situation in the Sudan is worth a lot more than the Laci Peterson murder case, but what will be watched more? You have to deal with them both, People magazine culture as well as the culture of news.

“(But) the weight would probably come down on the side of what is a celebrity. And this boggles the mind, because celebrities are made and gone so quick.”

Not that King isn’t positively tickled to have attained celebrity status himself.

He has been seen or heard, mostly as himself, in more than 20 movies - including two that haven’t been released yet, “Shrek 3″ and Jerry Seinfeld’s all-star animation feature “Bee Movie” - and about a dozen TV dramas and comedies, including “Boston Legal,” “Frasier,” “Murphy Brown,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and twice on “The Simpsons.”

Of course, being who he is, he would like to do more.

“I’d like to do one where I play someone else - not a woman (as in ‘Shrek 2′ and ‘Shrek 3′) and not a cartoon.

The CBC Institute put out a release last night saying that it was going forward with the Democratic debate FNC is to broadcast…

The Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute (CBC Institute) is sponsoring and will hold four primary debates — two among Democratic presidential candidates and two among Republican presidential candidates. Regarding media stories or inquiries about the broadcasting of these events, the CBC Institute has secured agreements with CNN and FOX News to nationally telecast the debates. Each network will telecast one debate for Democrats and one for Republicans, and we are proceeding with these agreements.

The Chicago Tribune editorializes on Edwards, Obama, and Clinton running away from the FNC debate (that’s my characterization btw)…

Candidates often feed scoops to favored reporters. They crave the friendly questions and the soft focus that help them appear to be commander-in-chief material. But here’s what candidates look like when they attempt to choose which reporters are worthy to question them: fragile, egocentric and frightened of tough questions.

(more…)

The LA Times John Horn and Matea Gold have a story about Don Imus regular stable of guests…

Steve Rendall, a senior analyst at the liberal media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, said Imus had benefited in the past from a “gentleman’s agreement” with top media personalities who refused to criticize Imus for any number of offensive remarks.

“They will appear on his show as folksy and human in exchange for their silence,” Rendall said.

Philip Nobile, the former media critic for New York magazine and a longtime chronicler of Imus’ offensive statements, said that none of the radio host’s media guests had criticized what Imus had previously said, nor had any declined an invitation to appear on his program.

Nobile singled out several of Imus’ regular media guests — Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter and CBS’ Jeff Greenfield and Bob Schieffer, among others.

“To me, these are moral sellouts,” Nobile said.

Alter did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment. Greenfield appeared on the Imus show Tuesday, saying the Rutgers remarks were “admittedly idiotic and hurtful.”

Later, Greenfield said he wanted to give the radio personality a chance to redeem himself. “I went on the show to say to him what I think had to change,” said the political analyst, who recently rejoined CBS News.

Greenfield said he and other journalists did not object when Imus made offensive comments in the past because they viewed it as part the show’s culture of taking potshots at everyone. In retrospect, he said, he should have spoken up.

“That’s something people like me should have challenged him on,” he said.

Johnny Dollar has the audio from the John Gibson radio program where Gibson continues his criticism of Dan Abrams over the Imus mess. Gibson again trots out the straw man argument that MSNBC/Abrams is blaming FNC in general and Gibson in particular for the Imus mess when Abrams never said that. But Gibson does correctly point out that his population growth comments were taken out of context (at the very least…and there are others who would argue worse than that).

The Politico’s Ben Smith writes about John Edwards after he pulled out of the CBC Institute/FNC debate…

“Edwards is doing to Ailes what Ailes used to do to political opponents,” said Ken Auletta, a writer and longtime observer of the television industry and of Fox News. “You put the other guy on the defensive. Edwards’ move puts Fox on the defensive, and so Roger has to answer questions he’d rather not address. Suddenly, he’s playing defense.”

Television industry analysts said they didn’t see any impact on Fox’s bottom line or its ratings from its increasingly hostile relationship with the Democratic Party. Democratic pollster Mark Mellman wrote in The Hill last month that 88 percent of Fox’s viewers voted for President Bush in 2004, and only 7 percent voted for Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). And the channel has thrived through waves of Democratic hostility before, largely because it has a loyal viewer base that is likely to rally behind it in the face of Democratic criticism.

Edwards “has appeared on FNC more than 30 times, most recently in January. So when exactly did he start having problems with us? When he was polling below 15 percent?” a Fox News spokesman asked after Edwards announced last week he was pulling out of a September debate co-sponsored by Fox and the Congressional Black Caucus, Variety reported.

Fox News spokesman Michael Murphy didn’t return several calls and e-mails seeking the channel’s response to Clinton’s and Obama’s withdrawals Monday from the same debate.