Erica Hill announced that HLN’s Prime News will be expanding to two hours starting Monday June 25th. It will run from 5-7 pm ET…

CNN announced tonight that it was launching a viewer response inititiative called “Impact Your World” to coincide with World Refugee Day, tomorrow, June 20th…

As people seek more and more ways to respond to news of the world, CNN Worldwide has created “Impact Your World,” an initiative developed to empower its global audience to make a difference in response to the stories they see. After a quarter of a century as the world leader in news and information, CNN Worldwide takes a leadership role in helping viewers and users effect change.

“After catastrophic events such as the tsunami in Southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina, we saw that people no longer wanted to be passive about the news, they wanted to respond to the news,” said Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide. “In direct response to that demand, CNN developed the ‘Impact Your World’ initiative as a destination focused on empowering every member of our audience with the tools and resources to act the moment they connect with a CNN story and wonder, ‘What can I do?’”
(more…)

CNN announced that Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison will be on Larry King Live Tuesday, June 26th…

In a rare interview, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon, Olivia Harrison and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté will appear on CNN’s Larry King Live on Tuesday, June 26, at 9 p.m. (ET) live from The Beatles REVOLUTION Lounge at The Mirage in Las Vegas. They will discuss the LOVE show and the contributions of George Harrison and John Lennon to the production, as well as the enduring influence of the Beatles’ music.

Cable News Ratings for June 18, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 828,000 viewers
CNN – 459,000 viewers
MSNBC – 301,000 viewers
CNBC – 196,000 viewers
HLN – 238,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,700,000 viewers
CNN – 919,000 viewers
MSNBC – 471,000 viewers
CNBC – 138,000 viewers
HLN – 443,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 229,000 viewers
CNN – 131,000 viewers
MSNBC – 127,000 viewers
CNBC – 78,000 viewers
HLN – 94,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 367,000 viewers
CNN – 231,000 viewers
MSNBC – 182,000 viewers
CNBC – 71,000 viewers
HLN – 178,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 825,000 viewers (336,000)
American Morning – 340,000 viewers (102,000)
MSNBC Live (7-9 AM) – 183,000 viewers (a scratch with 46,000)
Robin & Co. –182,000 viewers (69,000)
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MSNBC put out a transcript of the Chris Matthews moderated AFSCME Democratic Presidential Candidates Forum…

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews moderated the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Democratic Presidential Candidates Forum earlier today in Washington, DC, which telecast live on MSNBC as part of its bi-monthly “Super Tuesday” coverage. Matthews interviewed leading Democratic candidates that included Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator John Edwards, Senator Barack Obama, Representative Dennis Kucinich and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. All of the candidates spoke at length about their goals, including the desire to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Iraq immediately and begin negotiations with countries in the region. They also spoke about improving the U.S. health care and minimum wage system.

The full transcript of the Matthews forum and other notes from today’s forum are available at MSNBC.com’s Politics page…

UPDATE: The Washington Times’ Fishwrap has some more background on today’s forum and the up and down day Matthews had…(via FishbowlDC)

Matthews complained to the audience, asking at one point did they, “Want to fight?” (It’s not the first time Matthews and dueling have made headlines.)

Then Clinton asked Matthews for “a question that’s really about the people in this audience” and not about Washington insider politics.

Matthews railed on the audience, asking them if he could ask “one freaking question” of his own, adding that some in the audience had their “ringers on.”

“I want to thank you for doing something I never thought I’d see and that is to render Chris Matthews spechless,” Clinton said in closing, to cheers.

GretaWire blogs about being on the way to Ohio…

We are unexpectedly “on the road” today, headed to Canton, Ohio, on the story involving the missing pregnant woman. We have some interviews lined up and it is better to do them in person than via satellite. Plus, it always helps to get on the ground and look around with our own eyes. I get a better feel for the story when I can see things myself.

I have no idea where we are doing the show tonight. It could be in Ohio or maybe we will make it back to Washington, D.C. One of our problems is that we know there is an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms, so it may not make much sense to try and do the show outside in Ohio. I know that we have a “road trip” planned for Wednesday, which of course is complicating matters. Yes, it’s never dull, but as you know, this is a great job.

TVNewser has a chart showing how close the battle is between Paula Zahn Now and Countdown. What’s interesting is that while Paula Zahn Now’s numbers have been declining for nearly a year in both Total Viewers and the Demo, Countdown’s numbers have been holding in a trading range in Total Viewers but declining in The Demo. This suggests that Olbermann’s audience is getting older while Paula’s audience is just plain getting smaller. But the data is far from conclusive on this.

BTW, are these Live numbers or Live + SD?

Last night on Anderson Cooper 360, CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin reported on congressional earmarks. CNN called every member of the House of Representatives to request information on how they spent their funds. Transcript follows…

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Now it a promise we made and try to keep every night. A pledge to hold people in power accountable, especially our elected officials. In that vein CNN has made phone calls to every member of the United States House of Representatives, 435 calls. It got a lot of attention apparently on the Hill. Our sources say an e-mail even circulated warning that CNN was asking questions. That’s because the questions were about your money, your tax dollars and the pet projects that members of Congress like to spend it on. CNN’s Drew Griffin tonight “Keeping Them Honest.”

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Earmarks, those pesky pork barrel projects members of Congress quietly slip into massive spending bills. Before they came to power Democrats vowed to fix the broken earmark process. They promised complete transparency, no secret spending, no backroom deals.

REP. DAVID OBEY, (D) HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS CHAIRMAN: I’m now trying and so it our leadership to reduce earmarks by at least 50 percent.

GRIFFIN: So has anything changed? “Keeping Them Honest” we put our intrepid CNN interns on the case. They called the offices of every single member of Congress asking just one question.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I’m calling with CNN, and I’m trying to see if we can get a copy of the congressman’s earmark request for this year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was calling because we’re trying to obtain a copy of the congressman’s earmark requests for the 2007 budget.

GRIFFIN: What they found wasn’t exactly a show of complete transparency.
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Paris Hilton’s parents phoned in to On the Record with Greta Van Susteren last night and gave the latest updates on the jail saga. Rick Hilton also shot down stories that he had donated money to Sheriff Baca…

Rick Hilton: Greta, I’d like to set the record straight on one issue. Kathy just mentioned my father. There was talk that I had donated some money to Sheriff Baca. And not only have I not donated money to him, I’ve never met him either. But, my father 15 months ago had donated some money to the sheriff, and my dad Baron was quite upset that they were trying to implicate him in the press, that he may have done this as some kind of favoritism towards Paris, but once again that happened a year and a half ago. A lot of business people in L.A., I am sure, also donated to the sheriff. But, I just wanted to straighten that out, and right now my Dad is waiting for us to join him for dinner so we’re going to have to run. But, Greta, thank you for letting me say that one thing out there.

The L.A. Time’s Joseph Menn and Meg James write about the GE/Pearson discussions to make a bid for Dow Jones…

“This was the first day where a lot of ideas were exchanged and discussed,” said a person briefed on the proceedings, which included bankers and business-development executives.

Under one scenario being discussed Monday, GE and Pearson would each get about 40% of the new company, with members of the Bancroft family that controls Dow Jones keeping the balance.

Pearson took the idea to NBC Universal, the GE division that manages CNBC, last week. NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker and CNBC President Mark Hoffman then made a proposal to GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt, who told them to “take a look at it,” according to one executive.

“NBC’s interest in it is serious,” that person said. “It’s an attractive acquisition for whomever gets it.”

Cable News Ratings for June 16, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 629,000 viewers
CNN – 373,000 viewers
MSNBC – 262,000 viewers
CNBC – 204,000 viewers
HLN – 223,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 722,000 viewers
CNN- 437,000 viewers
MSNBC – 264,000 viewers
CNBC – 290,000 viewers
HLN – 201,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 178,000 viewers
CNN – 140,000 viewers
MSNBC – 120,000 viewers
CNBC – 63,000 viewers
HLN – 103,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 156,000 viewers
CNN – 128,000 viewers
MSNBC – 117,000 viewers
CNBC –82,000 viewers
HLN – 63,000 viewers

Cable News Ratings June 17, 2007
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The Politico’s Ann Schroeder blogs about the MSNBC D.C. bureau moving to the NBC D.C. bureau’s location…

“Bottom line is, the concept of any bureau being downsized is completely preposterous,” MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines told us Monday. As for staffers being relocated to NYC or being let go, not true either, Gaines assured. “The MSNBC D.C. team is moving to the NBC News Washington bureau,” he reiterated. The move may not make some guests happy, who will have to trek across town to Nebraska Avenue during high-traffic hours, but there are a few people it should appease. As it turns out, the Nebraska Avenue office is located mere blocks away from “Hardball” host Chris Matthews’ Chevy Chase house. And the same goes for Tucker Carlson’s digs and, perhaps most importantly, “Hardball” executive producer Tammy Haddad’s Palisades house, as well.

FishbowlDC has more…

Who could benefit from the NBC/MSNBC’s evacuation? Fox. Fox already has an operation out of 400 North Capitol and their business channel could very well want NBC/MSNBC’s spot.