Dan Rather has been all over the cable news nets today. He was on MSNBC earlier today and on The Situation Room this evening. The Politico’s Anne Schroeder explains why…

“Dan Rather Available to Discuss Report Presenting Conclusive Evidence of Voting Machine Failures” is the e-mail subject line.

Would this ever happen to Tom Brokaw?

The current issue of The Sag Harbor Express featured a Q&A with America’s Newsroom’s Bill Hemmer. Hemmer, who owns a home in Sag Harbor, spoke with the paper about how he became a journalist.

When I was a high school kid, I started a small radio show from my high school. It was bad rock and roll. I was going off to college and I thought being a DJ would be a good career. I was only into sports and music. At school, I had a friend with an internship at WLWT in Cincinnati; he took me there to see if I could get an internship. I was riding in the elevator with the sportscaster. The doors opened, and there was a beautiful control room and newsroom on the other side. I was hooked. I started in sports, but by 25 or 26, I had a midlife crisis and wanted to backpack around the world. I thought if I don’t, the world will crumble beneath my feet. Sports had become tedious, so I decided to take a sojourn around the world for a year. I was working at WCPO and said I would come back if they gave me a job in the news department. So they did. I worked courts, city hall, and I learned how government works. It was wonderful background. I can’t say I was thrilled to walk in and cover the state lottery or school lobby. But at night, I was explaining stories to my friends. I was interested and thought they should be too.

Here are some photos from the NABJ Awards. (all photos: Justin Larose/CNN)

(L to R) Don Lemon (CNN anchor), Alphonso Van Marsh (International video correspondent), Suzanne Malveaux (White House correspondent), Bernard Shaw, Roland Martin (CNN Contributor) and Chris Lawrence (CNN correspondent)
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MSNBC beat CNN in the primetime Demo. The O’Reilly Factor and On The Record with Greta Van Susteren were the only programs to crack 400,000 Demo viewers last night.

Cable News Daily Ratings for August 13, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 850,000 viewers
CNN – 588,000 viewers
MSNBC – 296,000 viewers
CNBC – 201,000 viewers
HLN – 219,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,571,000 viewers
CNN – 902,000 viewers
MSNBC – 570,000 viewers
CNBC – 134,000 viewers
HLN – 333,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 230,000 viewers
CNN –198,000 viewers
MSNBC – 124,000 viewers
CNBC – 76,000 viewers
HLN – 76,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 362,000 viewers
CNN – 221,000 viewers
MSNBC – 227,000 viewers
CNBC – 77,000 viewers
HLN – 131,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends –907,000 viewers (313,000)
American Morning – 399,000 viewers (171,000)
MSNBC Live (7-9am) – 160,000 viewers (a scratch with 41,000)
Robin & Co. – 230,000 viewers (96,000)
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TVNewser has the internal memo from FNC’s Bill Shine announcing that FNC’s 1/2 Hour News Hour won’t air any more episodes after September 16th but left the door open to some furture version of the program coming back at some point, which, honestly, doesn’t sound very promising to me…

Alexis Glick is hosting Your Wold with Neil Cavuto today. Interesting tidbit, in a segment with Ray Hennessey, recently named Managing Editor and Director of the Fox Business Network website, Glick ended it by teasing, “You’ll be seeing a lot of him right here on Fox Business Network”.

At the bottom of Michael Learmonth’s Variety article on Boomer Esiason and Craig Carlton taking over Don Imus’ slot on WFAN, Learmonth notes that MSNBC is still trying to shop Morning Joe to radio stations…

MSNBC had hoped to strike a new deal with WFAN to carry “Morning Joe,” and sources said the cabler is looking to other radio stations as possible outlets for Scarborough’s show.

MSNBC is experimenting with different co-hosts for Scarborough, including news reader Mika Brzezinski and humorist Willie Geist. His move to the morning opened up a slot at 9pm, where MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams has been filling in since earlier this summer.

CNN announced that CNN Student News Monday Aug 20th with new features…

Celebrating its 18th year of commercial-free educational programming, CNN Student News returns to the nation’s classrooms on Monday, Aug. 20, with a toolkit of multi-platform offerings not available through any other student-targeted news network. The CNN Student News program in September also will offer exclusive content related to CNN’s groundbreaking Planet in Peril documentary.

In addition to broadcasting a 10-minute, student-focused news program each weekday during the school year, CNN Student News, with its in-house staff of educators, provides teachers, parents and students with free online curriculum materials, learning activities and discussion questions about current events at www.CNNStudentNews.com. There, users can also stream the daily newscast on-demand or download the podcast version, also available for free on iTunes.
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CNN’s Political Ticker is reporting that Patrick Leahy will make an appearance in the next Batman movie. Why?

He’s a veteran statesman and hard-hitting chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But Sen. Patrick Leahy is set to leave the marble halls of Washington for the bright lights of Hollywood — at least briefly.

Vermont’s senior senator has landed a speaking role in the newest Batman movie, CNN affiliate WPTZ reports and confirmed by Leahy’s office.

Leahy is apparently a big comic book enthusiast, and actually served as an extra in the 1997 Batman installment: Batman and Robin.

Oh. Ok. As a former collector for 15 years, I can sympathize…

Former Laugh-In star Jo Anne Worley appeared on FOX & Friends this morning. One of the subjects discussed was Merv Griffin who discovered Worley…

If it hadn’t been for Merv Griffin and The Merv Griffin Show seeing me in a club in the Village, where they came in to book another comic, I may not have done that show.

Gretchen Carlson, who got her start in the business thanks to Griffin, pointed out, “The fact that Merv Griffin… How many times have we talked about in the last few days about Merv Griffin being a part of so many people’s lives and here is Joanne Worley and he was a part of your life.” Worley responsed, “Absolutely. It’s a small world!”

Strange weekend. CNN beat FNC in the daytime and primetime Demos and MSNBC also beat FNC in the primetime Demo Saturday. On Sunday, MSNBC beat CNN in the daytime Demo but CNN beat FNC in the primetime Demo and was neck and neck with it in Total Viewers as well.

Cable News Ratings August 11, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 822,000 viewers
CNN – 650,000 viewers
MSNBC – 348,000 viewers
CNBC – 193,000 viewers
HLN – 256,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 826,000 viewers
CNN – 629,000 viewers
MSNBC – 403,000 viewers
CNBC – 239,000 viewers
HLN – 200,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 218,000 viewers
CNN – 229,000 viewers
MSNBC –151,000 viewers
CNBC – 66,000 viewers
HLN –109,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 148,000 viewers
CNN – 222,000 viewers
MSNBC – 195,000 viewers
CNBC – 97,000 viewers
HLN – a scratch with 49,000 viewers

Cable News Ratings for August 12, 2007
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The LA Times’ Meg Jones writes about possible NBCU interest in acquiring the Oxygen network and has an analyst give a reason why…

Oxygen could help NBC make better use of iVillage and give it another platform to target women, who are sought after by advertisers because they typically make most household buying decisions.

SNL Kagan’s Baine saw another reason for NBC’s interest. He said that News Corp.’s plan to launch the Fox Business Network in October could put a drag on the finances of one of NBC Universal’s most profitable channels, the business network CNBC.

“It’s really not a huge surprise that they would want to expand their portfolio,” Baine said of NBC.

The New York Daily News’ Rush and Molloy dish about Liz Claman…

It wasn’t unusual for top business newswoman Liz Claman to be with a CEO - this time, TD Ameritrade’s Joe Moglia. But then Don King came barreling across the Michelangelo bar shouting how much he loved “the most beautiful anchorwoman in America” and offered Claman a job on the spot, co-hosting a country-music special with him, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw this December. King’s going to have to wait in line: Since Claman resigned from her spot helming the desk on CNBC’s No. 1 show, “Morning Call,” she has had offers off the hook.

The Detroit Free Press’ Alejandro Bodipo-Memba writes about the results of the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index and notes how in the Information and Web Space category, it’s a neck and neck battle at the top…(via WHAC)

In addition to measuring search engines and Web portals, ACSI ranked news and information sites ABCNews.com (74), MSNBC.com (74), CNN.com (73), NYTimes.com (73) and USAToday.com (72).

“There is no clear winner in the news and information space, as all of the sites have difficulty in differentiating themselves from the pack and leveraging the unique personalities that exist in their traditional channels,” said Freed.

Freed added that news sites continue to struggle with “maximizing their relationships” with news aggregators, search engines and portals.

“The challenge for any news site is to have enough personality and content to become a destination site so that visitors go to NYTimes.com instead of, for example, typing ‘Iraq’ into Google News or skimming Yahoo! news headlines,” he said in the report.

CNN announced this morning that the National Association of Black Journalists had awarded the network with its “Best Practices” Award.

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) gave CNN Worldwide its “Best Practices” Award during its 32nd Convention and Career Fair in Las Vegas, citing the news organization for its commitment to diversity both on and off air.

In citing CNN for its “Best Practices,” NABJ recognized the network’s journalists for their exemplary work in covering issues of significance to the black community and the African diaspora and the news organization as a whole for its efforts to increase diversity on air and behind the scenes.

NABJ also awarded CNN the following journalism awards:
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CNN announced this morning that it will premiere “CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Children of the Storm” on Wednesday, August 29th, at 8pm ET.

As the Gulf region marks the second year since Hurricane Katrina, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and filmmaker Spike Lee team with 11 New Orleans-area teenagers for a documentary that captures what their lives have been like since the devastating storm. Filmed almost entirely by the teens with handheld digital video cameras, CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Children of the Storm focuses on the personal journeys of Deshawn Dabney, Brandon Franklin, Amanda Hill and Shantia Reneau.

Children of the Storm premieres on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at 8 p.m., with replays on Saturday, Sept. 1, and Sunday, Sept. 2, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. All times Eastern.

Before Hurricane Katrina, 75,000 children attended public schools in New Orleans and suburban St. Bernard Parish. The teens in the documentary are among the 30,000 students who have returned to their schools. Filmed between January and August of this year, the teens discuss loss, depression, inspiration and redemption in their own words, diary-style.
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Broadcasting & Cable’s Marisa Guthrie writes about the costs, both financial and human, of covering Iraq…

NBC Universal’s recent restructuring—which slashed $750 million and 700 jobs from the company budget—cut the deepest across the news division. The initiative, dubbed NBC 2.0, was necessary, said executives, to better position NBC in the digital realm. (CNN and Fox News, with their 24/7 news content are inherently better positioned to amortize the costs of Iraq, but the expenses remain significant.)

Despite the costs, editors are fighting to stay in the game. Says David Verdi, vice president of newsgathering at NBC: “The truth of the matter is our editorial process has remained honest. We make our decisions based on the editorial merit of the stories. Are we on a budget? Of course we are. Is there accountability? Of course there is. But it’s up to us to manage within our budgetary constraints and we base our decisions on the editorial merit and then have to manage around the financial issues.”

The network evening newscasts continue to devote more time to Iraq—about a quarter of the 22-minute broadcast—than any other single story, according to analysis by the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ). (For the first quarter of 2007, ABC’s Iraq coverage made up 27% of the newscast, followed by NBC at 26% and CBS at 24%, according to PEJ.)

Two magazine articles today by cable news personalities. Dr. Sanjay Gupta writes about organics in Time Magazine and Maria Bartiromo interviews John Edwards in Business Week…