The New York Daily News’ Christina Kinon writes about the guy who tried to steal Laura Ingle’s mic live on the air…

“You never know what’s going to happen with live news, I suppose,” Ingle told the Daily News yesterday. “This guy just busted out of the line, and he grabbed my microphone and ran off.”

Hundreds of people were queued up outside the store to be the first to buy the iPhone, which went on sale at 6 p.m.

“He tried running away, but I think he tripped,” said Ingle. “He actually let go of the microphone when he hit the ground, and [my producer] picked it up and handed it to me and I just turned my back and kept on talking. We had a report to do.”

From an emailer…

Recently CNN’s Cal Perry and Karl Penhaul won the edward r murrow award for “Continuing Coverage: CNN, Coverage of the Middle East Conflict” — they won for their coverage in Tyre, Lebanon. They were the only journalists from any news network in Southern Lebanon for the first five days of the war last summer. Karl Penhaul did a lot of amazing live coverage, Cal Perry wrote four very moving articles — search “cal perry, tyre lebanon” on cnn.com, or the same for Karl Penhaul.

I think it’s really great that they won the award, but I wish more writers and bloggers would acknowledge that it was these two who won the award, and not just CNN. CNN’s coverage is always hit or miss for me, except for a few, reporting out of the middle east, who are almost always on point, and always challenging the norm that is the usual CNN reporting. Karl Penhaul, Michael Ware, Cal Perry, Ben Weideman, Christianne Amanpour are the tops. So I don’t think CNN should get all of the credit.

All the networks have been wall to wall with the terrorist car bomging/attack at Glasgow International Airport. Post your coverage reactions here.

MSNBC was first to end coverage at 7pm after Alex Witt and David Shuster alternated coverage throughout the day.

Fox was the first network with a live reporter from Glasgow. Sky News’ Ronda Dougall was on at 1:15 ET. FNC had Catherine Herridge, Jamie Colby, Greg Jarrett, and Geraldo Rivera anchoring coverage throughout the day. Rivera said that coverage will be live tonight which apparently means that Martha MacCallum’s Princess Diana doc won’t be airing tonight. Bill Hemmer is on his way to London and will be reporting from there tomorrow in a 2 hour Fox News Live at 3pm ET.

CNN was using Sky News for coverage early on since they had no one there at the time. CNN had T.J. Holmes, Melissa Long, and Susan Roesgen were anchoring coverage. On Monday, American Morning will be originating from two locations with Kiran Chetry in New York and John Roberts in the UK.

Johnny Dollar has the audio of John Gibson from his radio program talking about the Laura Ingle incident, Bill Moyers on Rupert Murdoch and FNC, and Dan Abrams who he torches over Bill O’Reilly allegedly blaming Chris Benoit’s wife and Jessie Davis for their own deaths…

A veteran takes Chris Matthews to task over the Coulter/Edwards bruhaha…

The day after Larry King interviewed Paris Hilton and CNN put up a big number (which didn’t seem to steal any FNC viewers away), things return to normal in the ratings race. FNC had a big night though and O’Reilly, H&C, and On The Record had big demos for a non-breaking news night.

Cable News Ratings for June 28, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC - 998,000 viewers
CNN - 511,000
MSNBC - 270,000 viewer
CNBC - 174,000 viewer
HLN - 327,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 2,266,000 viewers
CNN - 904,000 viewers
MSNBC - 478,000 viewers
CNBC -304,000 viewers
HLN - 666,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC - 312,000 viewers
CNN -172,000 viewers
MSNBC - 94,000 viewers
CNBC - 60,000 viewers
HLN - 145,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 610,000 viewers
CNN - 285,000 viewers
MSNBC - 179,000 viewers
CNBC -123,000 viewers
HLN - 272,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends - 915,000 viewers (370,000)
American Morning - 381,000 viewers (127,000)
MSNBC Live (7-9 AM) - 252,000 viewers (69,000)
Robin & Co. -261,000 viewers (132,000)
(more…)

Bad boys, bad boys, what ya gonna do?

FNC’s National Correspondent Catherine Herridge has been covering the London bombing bust up from Washington D.C. all day. Herridge’s significant role in FNC’s coverage today is due to the fact that she used to be based in London and, like any good reporter would do, has maintained her contacts and sources from when she lived there.

Rudolph Giuliani will be appearing on Hanntiy & Colmes tonight at 9pm ET in an exclusive interview where he’ll weigh in on the London bombing attempt bust up…

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rosenthal…

For all the hype — which included coverage of Hilton’s arrival and a countdown clock to the interview on CNN and Anderson Cooper’s grudging post-interview attempt to bring depth to King’s shallow exchange with analysis — Fox News Channel edged CNN over the three hours of prime time, averaging 1.858 million viewers to CNN’s 1.851 million in live viewing.

Imagine what the interview might have drawn had King defied expectations and asked even one question that wasn’t as empty and vacuous as the jailbird heiress across from him.

Ultimately, having exhausted the damage-control answers Hilton’s handlers had crafted for her, King was left to flail about for something — anything — to fill the hour. Hard to believe broadcast networks once were bidding for this.

The good news is King didn’t botch Hilton’s name. It was at least an even-money bet King might call her Zsa Zsa after he managed to bungle his interview the night before with surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison by referring to Ringo as George.

FNC broke in first at 3:30 with news of the terror plot. A few hours later, FNC’s London correspondent, Amy Kellogg, was down on the ground providing a first-hand account. She phoned in live from London at 5:59 am ET. By 6:28 am, Kellogg was reporting live from Piccadilly Circus.

This really is a very chilling wake up call for Gordon Brown in his first days as prime minister. It’s a reminder of what danger this country is in and the threat Great Britain faces from terrorism.

I think what will be frightening to many, as this news develops throughout the course of the morning, is that there was no warning on this one. No warning whatsoever.

FNC’s Laura Ingle was doing a live remote on the IPhone around 9:50 am ET when someone came up and yanked her microphone away. He then tried to run off with it. Johnny Dollar has the video.

The Press Gazette’s Martin Stabe writes about CNN.com’s website relaunch…

Nick Wrenn, CNN International’s managing editor for Europe, the Middle East and Africa said demand for online video clips had increased, particularly over the last three years.

“We’ve got some terrific video — it’s what CNN does,” said Wrenn.

“We want to show off as much of that as possible, and the changes we’re making will allow people to watch more video in a bigger screen,” he added.

CNN describes its new design as “story centric”, allowing the user to select whether to access each story using text, video or multimedia slideshow formats from a set of tabs on each story page. In the existing “flat” site, users have to open pop-up windows to see videos on text-centric story pages. Each story will also include posts obtained by the Sphere blog search engine.

”We’re encouraging the journalists to think very creatively about how people are — for want of a better word — consuming the story. Do they necessarily need to write 800 words when we’ve got some really compelling video which loads straight into the page and really tells that story? Or is there a really good blog that they can link to?”

The Washington Post’s Lisa DeMoraes writes about profound social issues on TV CNN’s Paris Hilton coverage…

Larry King tripled his audience by lobbing softball questions at a vacant-looking Paris Hilton in her first TV chat since her release from jail early Tuesday.

After which, the son of Gloria Vanderbilt more than doubled his usual “Anderson Cooper 360°” crowd with his neo-ironic performance of a journalist holding his nose and whining about having to analyze King’s interview with the privileged child of a gillionaire. In so doing, Cooper joined all those media columnists who for weeks had been sniffing about journalism embracing tabloid instincts in re the Paris story, only to stick their own greedy snouts into the trough holding the juiciest pop-culture gruel served up in ages.

And Barbara Walters sat bolt upright on her Disney Throne of Principles, mumbling “tawdry” while dialing Lionel Richie on his private line to say “Hi!”

The New York Post’s Michael Starr writes about where on the rankings Wednesday’s Larry King Live Paris Hilton interview winds up…

Hilton’s first post-jailhouse interview Wednesday night was easily CNN’s best night this year in terms of viewers - but ranked as only the 52nd-highest audience in “LKL” history.

And it didn’t even come close to the nearly 17 million people who watched the 1993 NAFTA debate on “LKL” between Ross Perot and Al Gore - still a basic cable record for total viewers.

(CNN competitors Fox News Channel and MSNBC didn’t exist back then.)

The King-Hilton interview also didn’t draw viewers away from FNC’s “Hannity & Colmes,” which averaged 1.6 million viewers Wednesday in the same timeslot (9-10 p.m.) - on par with its June average.

Ouch…

FNC will be airing a special on Princess Diana this Saturday at 9pm ET and Sunday at 1pm ET. Hosted by Martha MacCallum, the special is airing as we mark the 10th anniversary of her untimely death.

In life, Diana seemed shy and submissive one moment then shaking the core of the monarchy the next. And with death, the world seemed to stand still — her funeral watched by millions.

But what does the future hold for this kingdom?

Her sons are now young men. Charles is married to Camilla. Elizabeth is still queen.

Ten years after the death of Diana, join host Martha MacCallum as FOX News looks back at Princess Diana’s legacy and examines who will be king and when.

Starting this weekend, MSNBC will drop its 12-4 newscast on Saturdays in favor of taped programming. There was a rumor circulating that was just a test run but that is apparently not the case. I hear it’s long term.

The network had originally added the 12-4pm shift with Contessa Brewer back at the end of 2005. The network dropped its Sunday 12-4 newscast due to ratings last December. When Norah O’Donnell went on maternity leave and Alison Stewart left the network and The Most was cancelled, Brewer was moved to M-Fr daytime and a group of subs anchored the Saturday afternoon newscast. Now that too is going away. Again, apparently, ratings are the issue.

MSNBC would point out that it is ready to handle any breaking news that should happen and cut in if necessary as they did last Saturday when it reported the discovery of Jessie Davis’ body. But the fact remains that MSNBC’s competition will have regularly scheduled live newscasts throughout various periods in the afternoon and evening and MSNBC won’t.

FNC’s Carl Cameron had an exclusive interview today with potential presidential candidate former Senator Fred Thompson. In the interview, Thompson remarked on whether he is an outsider in the presidential campaign…

I don’t use that term. I don’t know what it means really. You don’t have to be from Alaska or Hawaii to see what it is wrong with the way your government is operating. And I have been critical when I was outside and I have been critical when I was inside. And now I’m critical again.

The Detroit News’ Mekeisha Madden Toby writes about all the dodging and weaving by Hilton in the interview and the question(s) Larry King didn’t ask…

When King inquired why she’d decided to do the interview, her first televised talk out of the pokey, Hilton said she wanted to share her experience and correct some misinformation. One such rumor is that she lost a lot of weight but Hilton said she only “lost like 2 pounds.”

“I just want people to know what I went through,” Hilton said. “God makes everything happen for a reason.”

For all the questions that King skipped, the biggest disappointment was that he didn’t ask Hilton about her controversial use of the “N” word exposed in a YouTube video.

Mulitchannel News’ Steve Donohue pans the interview…
(more…)

The story last night was all about Paris Hilton. Some will say that 3 million viewers isn’t a lot considering how much hype this interview got in advance. And it’s true that there was no pre-interview bump for Paula Zahn Now and AC 360 lost nearly half of the Larry King Live audience. And it wasn’t enough for CNN to beat FNC in Total Viewers for the night. But to me 3 million is nothing to sneeze at. It’s more than CNN got for its Republican and Democratic Presidential debates. Which is a sad commentary on the state of mind of the viewing public if you ask me.

(ratings are Live)

Cable News Ratings for June 27, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 960,000 viewers
CNN – 701,000 viewers
MSNBC – 279,000 viewers
CNBC – 199,000 viewers
HLN – 350,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,858,000 viewers
CNN – 1,851,000 viewers
MSNBC – 539,000 viewers
CNBC –287,000 viewers
HLN – 798,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 296,000 viewers
CNN – 254,000 viewers
MSNBC – 112,000 viewers
CNBC – 60,000 viewers
HLN – 164,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 442,000 viewers
CNN – 812,000 viewers
MSNBC – 219,000 viewers
CNBC –78,000 viewers
HLN – 358,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 878,000 viewers (362,000)
American Morning – 429,000 viewers (129,000)
MSNBC Live (7-9 AM) – 270,000 viewers (107,000)
Robin & Co. –263,000 viewers (138,000)
(more…)

CNN is noting its ratings bonanza for the Larry King Live Paris Hilton interview last night… (note: numbers are Live+SD)

On Wednesday, June 27th, 3.203 million total viewers and 1.418 million P25-54 demo viewers tuned in to CNN’s Larry King for Paris Hilton’s first TV interview since her release from jail. This is the show’s highest total viewer and demo delivery for a regularly scheduled telecast of Larry King Live so far this year.

Continuing a week of record-setting interviews, on Friday, June 29, CNN will air three hours of Larry King interviews from this week including:

7pm (ET) – Larry King Live interview with The Beatles

8pm (ET) – Larry King Live interview with Paris Hilton

9pm (ET) Larry King Live interview with filmmaker Michael Moore LIVE

ICN received email from alert Anderson Cooper 360 viewers inquiring about AC 360 cutting back on its live coverage to just the first hour. I looked into it and here’s the story:

AC 360 will be live from 10 pm ET to the top of the 11 pm hour. The rest of the 11 pm hour will be tape. However, if there’s breaking news occurring the program will continue live as warranted. This format will remain in place for the rest of the summer.

Johnny Dollar has video of Fox and Friends Steve Doocy and Alisyn Camerota re-enacting the Paris Hilton interview on CNN last night. He’s also got video of Janice Dean showing off honeymoon photos…

The Orlando Sentinel’s Jerry Greene interviews Fox and Friends’ Brian Kilmeade in conjunction with his new book “It’s How You Play the Game: The Powerful Sports Moments that Taught Lasting Values to America’s Finest”…

This book “belongs” to Gen. George S. Patton. In researching Patton, Kilmeade spoke to his grandson and read letters between Patton and his father about the value of competition. When Patton failed miserably in a track event at West Point, his father wrote:

“It is a good thing to be ambitious and to strive mightily to win in every contest in which you engage; but you must school yourself to meet defeat and failure without bitterness and to take your comfort in having striven worthily and done your best.”

Kilmeade said Tuesday while visiting Orlando with his family: “Patton and those letters inspired me to do this book. One of the many lessons in the book is that a kind parent does not mean a weak child.”

News. Corp./NBC Universal’s release on Jason Kilar’s hiring as CEO of the companies’ joint online video company.

News Corporation and NBC Universal have appointed Jason Kilar, a key executive at Amazon.com for nearly a decade, to Chief Executive Officer of the online video joint venture the companies formed in March, 2007, it was announced today by Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation and Jeff Zucker, President and Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal. Mr. Kilar will join the new company on July 9 and will report to its Board of Directors, which include Mr. Chernin and Mr. Zucker.

The company’s video-rich site will debut later this year with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips from myriad networks and two major film studios and with an unparalleled reach. With distribution partners AOL, CNET, Comcast, MSN, MySpace, and Yahoo!, the new venture will have access to 98 percent of the monthly U.S. unique users on the Internet.
(more…)

Bill O’Reilly announced on his Radio Factor program that Michael Moore had backed out of an appearance on his FNC O’Reilly Factor program. (via Johnny Dollar)

UPDATE: But Moore apparently has time to be interviewed by Maria Bartiromo today on Closing Bell…

In an interview with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo, Michael Moore discusses his new documentary film SiCKO scheduled for release tomorrow, Friday, June 29th, among other topics. The interview comes prior to Moore joining the nurses at the Wall Street Conference today at Federal Hall to call for widespread divestment from health insurance companies.

Johnny Dollar has the audio from the Brian and the Judge radio show where Brit Hume talks about being under surveillance by the CIA…

In a must read, Time Magazine’s Eric Pooley has an Filed under: Cable News, FOX News Channel, FOX Business Network - Spud Comments (4)

Avid is our friend…

p.s. If I get any emails or comments from literalists out there saying they don’t use Avid or Avid wouldn’t work, with all due respect…you’re just not getting it…

FishbowlDC fact checks Chris Matthews during his Ann Coulter interview…

On yesterday’s edition of Hardball, Chris Matthews made the claim that Ann Coulter was the first person to mention the names Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton on his show:

_________

A cursory search of recent Hardball transcripts, however, shows a different picture.

Fishbowl has a point, particularly about Hilton which Matthews himself covered as a story, but if we want to go by the literal interpretation of Matthews’ remarks, wouldn’t both names have to be used by someone on the show to qualify?

TVGuide’s Stephen Battaglio writes about TV viewers’ ages in an article I would have ignored if not for this…

So where is the youngest audience in prime time? Up the cable dial at Nicktoons and Toon Disney, which both have a median age of 10, followed by the Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, with 11. And the oldest folks? They’re at the Fox News Channel, with a median age of 65-plus.

UPDATE: USA Today’s Gary Levin offfers a clearer picture of the cable news age landscape…

Cable networks Fox News, Hallmark, CNN and GSN had the oldest viewership, each with a median age of more than 60 in prime time.

Every once in a while you read an article and the way it’s written - how it’s structured and they way every little negative detail is brought out - right down to the selection of derogatory adjectives - makes you sit back and think “hit piece”. The New York Post’s Peter Lauria rains on NBC News and its 2nd in command Mark Whitaker…

A little over a month into his job as second-in-command at NBC News, Mark Whitaker is already ruffling feathers.

Known in the print world for his impeccable journalistic credentials and deep Rolodex, the former Newsweek editor has sparked tension almost from the beginning for both his editorial calls and resistance to getting involved in recruitment efforts, according to a half-dozen sources inside the news division or close to it.

CNBC is airing Squawk on the Street for two hours today and tomorrow. The release doesn’t say why. Have they mentioned this on the air today? Can anyone fill me in?

BigHead D.C. writes about Tucker Carlson losing his 4pm show and why that may be a good thing…

Some MSNBC top brass are convinced that the 4 p.m. show hurt ratings for the 6 p.m. hour and would rather air more breaking news segments in the afternoon. Six o’clock, too, is far more important to advertisers.

There are also rumors from CNN that Lou Dobbs’ program will move from its current spot at 6 p.m. to fill departing anchor Paula Zahn’s current 8 p.m. slot. This move, MSNBCers believe, will ultimately give “Tucker” a great shot at winning the lucrative cable news 6 p.m. crown.

I think FNC might have something to say about that. If Dobbs can’t flat out beat Special Report (though the show has gotten more competitive with the FNC program) and Tucker can’t beat Dobbs, how can they expect Tucker to beat Special Report?