Inside Cable News

January 15, 2008

Michigan 2008: FNC…

There were new larger graphics coming from Studio E tonight during FNC’s coverage of the Michigan primary. During the 8pm hour, O’Reilly made an on air appearance and Greta van Susteren made one during the 9pm hour. Megyn Kelly was in a new set position where she showed the FNC Decision Desk behind her and reported on the polls. One segment featured the high number of uncommitted voters in the Democratic primary compared to Hillary Clinton’s numbers. FNC kept its results up during the commercials.

At 10 pm, Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee appeared later on Hannity & Colmes. Tomorrow on Fox and Friends, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson will appear…

He said it…

“Can you be on the best political team on television when you keep saying I don’t know what’s going to happen?”

- CNN’s John King in response to a question from Anderson Cooper on what the headline tonight was besides Mitt Romney wins…

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President Bush to go On The Record…

Greta Van Susteren interviewed President Bush in Abu Dhabi. The President discussed his thoughts on the challenges facing the Middle East. The interview will air Wednesday on On The Record at 10pm ET…

Monday’s Numbers…

Big numbers for O’Reilly last night and that continued for FNC throughout primetime…

Daily Live+SD Ratings for January 14, 2008

Primetime
FNC
CNN
MSNBC
HLN
CNBC

Total Day
FNC
CNN
MSNBC
HLN
CNBC

Mornings (6-9AM)
FNC
CNN
MSNBC
HLN
CNBC

P25-54
654,000
273,000
241,000
210,000
85,000

P25-54
318,000
200,000
125,000
121,000
67,000

P25-54
312,000
154,000
188,000
171,000
79,000

P2+
2,323,000
733,000
620,000
575,000
184,000

P2+
1,064,000
586,000
313,000
282,000
248,000

P2+
874,000
412,000
256,000
169,000
172,000

(more…)

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Michigan 2008: CNN tweaks graphics…

CNN made one minor change in its lower thirds for tonight’s election coverage. It made the size of the percentage numbers bigger for the percentage of the vote counted. Not that I seriously think it’s because of what I wrote, but I think it’s interesting that I noted that the Iowa lower thirds were too cluttered and they were made less cluttered for New Hampshire. And I noted that the percentage numbers were too tiny for New Hampshire and they were made bigger for Michigan.

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Kucinich vs. NBC: NBC wins…

Brian Stelter blogs in the New York Times’ Caucus blog about NBC winning its appeal to exclude Dennis Kucinich from tonight’s Nevada debate (on air now)…

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that MSNBC is not required to include candidate Dennis Kucinich in its scheduled Democratic presidential debate.

The seven-member court overturned Monday’s ruling by a Nevada district court judge.

The decision, which came one hour before the debate was scheduled to begin in Las Vegas, meant that Mr. Kucinich would not share the stage with the party’s three leading contenders, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. The debate is expected to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern on MSNBC.

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Michigan 2008: It’s over…

Well I tune in at 9:05pm and all three networks have already predicted Mitt Romney has won Michigan. I guess I can go to bed now. Just kidding. Post your comments about tonight’s coverage here…

Update: FNC called the race for Romney at 9pm, CNN at 9:01, and MSNBC at 9:03.

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American Morning in Michigan…

This morning on CNN’s American Morning, John Roberts and Dr. Sanjay Gupta were reporting live from live from the National Coney Island in Warren, Michigan for today’s primary. They spoke with patrons and other voters about the issues that are important to them in advance of the Michigan primary tonight.

Gupta is from the Detroit-area, and will be premiering a documentary on Jan. 31 at 11pm – after CNN’s Democratic debate in Los Angeles – about health insurance in the US. The title is Broken Government: Critical Condition.

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CNBC scores Steve Jobs exclusive…

Today CNBC’s Silicon Valley Bureau Chief Jim Goldman had what was labeled as an exclusive interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs in the wake of Jobs’ MacWorld Keynote Address today.

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FNC airs You Decide special in place of The Big Story…

This afternoon, FNC aired a You Decide ‘08 special hosted by Laura Ingraham in place of The Big Story with John Gibson and Heather Nauert…

Kucinich vs. NBC…

TV Decoder’s Brian Stelter writes about the Dennis Kucinich Nevada Debate saga with NBC…

On Monday, prompted by Mr. Kucinich’s request for a temporary restraining order against NBC Universal, Nevada district court judge Charles Thompson issued an injunction stating that MSNBC could not proceed with the debate unless Mr. Kucinich was included. An emergency hearing to review the ruling is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. Eastern in Las Vegas.

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Dennis Kucinich…meet Ron Paul…

Eat The Press’ Rachel Sklar blogs about why Dennis Kucinich should be included in the MSNBC Nevada debate tonight. As of this morning, MSNBC was still featuring graphics showing just Obama, Clinton, and Edwards as part of the Debate…

But even so, it seems like MSNBC ought to let Kucinich debate. Why? Well, for starters, they officially invited him, and it’s horrendously uncool for them to uninvite him, no matter what. But also, this race has become homogenized very quickly: The three top-tier frontrunners, always zeroing in on each other, always shifting the focus of their barbs between them — they’re gonna do their thing anyhow, why not allow for another voice in there? Distant-fourth Richardson got plaudits after the last debate, why not allow Kucinich to provide a counterpoint in this one? UFOs aside, let’s resist the temptation to dismiss Kucinich — his position has been strong and unwavering and his message of “strength through peace” not at all an unwelcome one, even if he is not the candidate of choice. With the other candidates, the focus has of late been on the economy, and each other; this is a candidate whose platform is built around withdrawl from Iraq — so with him, you can pretty much guarantee the subject will be mentioned.

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CNN hires Bart Feder and Scott Matthews…

CNN’s announcement on the hiring of Bart Feder and Scott Matthews…

Bart Feder, chairman of The FeedRoom, an online video provider, becomes senior vice president for current programming, and Scott Matthews, vice president and news director of WNYW-TV and WWOR-TV in New York City, becomes director of programming. Both are newly created positions within CNN/U.S. with Feder reporting to Klein and Matthews reporting to Feder. Feder’s appointment is effective immediately, and Matthews begins on Monday, Feb. 11.

In his role, Feder will be based at CNN in New York and will oversee all on-air programming for CNN/U.S. as well as coordinate efforts with CNN.com and other digital ventures to distribute CNN programming across multiple platforms. Matthews will serve as the network’s primary programming executive in Atlanta, responsible for all CNN/U.S. newscasts emanating from CNN headquarters.

“Both Bart and Scott are the perfect fit for CNN/U.S., as throughout their careers, each of them has emphasized in-depth reporting and innovative storytelling everywhere they’ve been,” Klein said. “They’re going to play a major role in expanding upon the journalistic and ratings momentum underway at CNN.”
(more…)

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Anderson Cooper to contribute to “CNN in: 60:”…

CNN announced that Anderson Cooper will be contributing to CNN Radio’s “CNN in: 60″ updates…

CNN Radio announced that Anderson Cooper will contribute each weekday to “CNN in: 60,” the radio network’s fast-paced, one-minute news update. Cooper’s spots, called “360 in: 60,” will air at 5:25pm (ET) Monday through Friday. The update, available to approximately 2000 affiliates worldwide, highlights the latest news of the day.

Cooper is the first CNN television anchor to join the “CNN in: 60” franchise.
(more…)

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Glenn Beck on the health care system and “the tape”…

The AP’s David Bauder interviews Glenn Beck…

When he got a concerned call from the hospital’s chief administrator, Beck knew the tape had spread beyond his Web site. Sure enough, the Drudge Report had picked it up. It has reached nearly 800,000 views on YouTube.

Now that he’s more coherent, Beck doesn’t want to forget the things that really upset him during his medical nightmare.

He said he and his wife were made to feel less than human when he came to the hospital’s emergency room in intense pain (Beck isn’t naming the hospital). As his wife struggled to carry him, a triage nurse “was actually drumming his fingers on the door and sighing, like ‘come on,’” he told The Associated Press. “He never made eye contact with me during the whole thing. He never talked about pain. He left my wife and I in the dust.”

It took more than two hours to get any medication for pain “and it wasn’t a busy night at all,” he said.

Then there was the nurse who casually dismissed his request for oxygen, and a shower stall littered with old bandages. Several people treated him with compassion, but enough didn’t that Beck believes there’s a wider problem there.

Ring-a-ling…

The New York Post’s Michael Starr notes that Dylan Ratigan and the Fast Money gang are ringing the opening bell on the Nasdaq today in conjunction with the program’s one year anniversary. Donny Deutsch did that just a couple of weeks ago in the run-up to CES. Is this some sort of clever PR thing to get CNBC talent and programming plugged on FBN’s air as they carry the opening bell live? Or is this just a happy coincidence that two CNBC programs ring in the Nasdaq so close together due to the proximities of CES and the Fast Money anniversary?

Update: Added screen grab…

Update 2: This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. When FBN launched it rang in the Nasdaq and was covered by CNBC…

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Fisking The Times…

Big Head D.C. beats up the New York Times regarding an ommission on the South Carolina debate…

On Friday in particular, the Times must have been suffering from a little dementia…it seems they conveniently forgot they were at a debate sponsored by FOX News Channel, omitting the network from the story entirely, and deciding that Brit Hume, Chris Wallace, Carl Cameron and Wendell Goler were simply “moderators” in the photo caption which accompanied the story, and didn’t need to be identified with FOX News Channel or have their actual names mentioned. Meanwhile, major papers like the Washington Post and USA Today credited the network in their stories.

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