What’s hot/What’s not: Submissions…
Post your submissions to this week’s What’s hot/What’s not. I’ll post the finalists on Sunday night…
January 26, 2008
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HOT
Chris Jansing-For all the wrong reasons. She’s being taken off her anchoring position and being moved to Burbank in a correspondent role. She was one of MSNBC’s best, and as Spud says, this marks the end of an era at MSNBC.
EA vs. FNC-I saw this segment when it aired on the Live Desk, and I honestly didn’t expect it to blow up like this. Martha’s segment quickly drew backlash from EA.
Erica Hill-She’s moving from Prime News to AC360. She’s “Hot” for doing a stellar job on Prime News.
LUKEWARM
Election Coverage Fatigue-I’ve noticed that the cable news networks have been going all-out on pretty much every primary. I’ve been asking myself if this is really necessary, especially in the later stages of the primary campaigns (after Super Tuesday). This isn’t “Not” yet, but if the networks keep going all-out on every single primary, it will be.
Also, what does this mean for coverage of the 2012 elections? There’s something to think about….
NOT
John Gibson-He made some remarks about Heath Ledger, and they blew up in his face. People were outraged, with one article being posted here calling for him to be fired.
Erin Burnett-First she calls President Bush a “monkey”, then she writes that column that was rumored to have angered some of the highers-up at CNBC, and now this. She’s been mired in controversy a lot lately.
Anchor shuffling by MSNBC-Depending on who you talk to, MSNBC’s either a growing network that’s just now getting on its feet or a network that is struggling to survive. Either way, moving an anchor as talented as Chris Jansing will only have negative effects on MSNBC. They pretty much shot themselves in the foot on this one.
Anchor shuffling by CNN-Erica Hill’s being moved from Prime News to AC360. Prime News has had some pretty big ratings growth, even beating FNC at times, and I consider this another example of something endemic among cable news execs: Trying to fix what’s not broken.
Comment by Foxfan20 — January 26, 2008 @ 11:05 am
What’s Not: John Gibsons outrageous and slanderous comments and Fox’s lack of any statements about the issue and his faux apology.
Hot: CNBC numbers following the market problems.
Comment by Mike Beckham — January 26, 2008 @ 11:14 am
NOT HOT - I think its a toss up between FNC & Gibson. On one hand you have Gibson saying these deplorable things.. along with an apology. (whether or not you think it was sincere is another matter) And on the other, whether or not FNC is culpable since they haven’t suspended or fired him.
NOT HOT - Oh my, its FNC again! Then you have this EA/Martha spat. Now, I only play about 6000 classic (1975-1995) arcade games on my MAME arcade machine. So, I’m unfamiliar with these new fancy games. With that said, it seems to me FNC/Martha lied about the details of this game. Now, I guess you can argue both sides if you want.
NOT HOT - MSNBC moving Chris Jansing to California. I think this one has been covered.. but I for one am very disappointed.
HOT/NOT HOT/WE’LL SEE - Erica Hill gets “promoted” from hosting her own show to working as AC360’s sidekick? I’m happy for Erica but just hope CNN doesn’t under utilize one of the most promising 31 year olds in news today.
HOT - CNN’s triumphant debate numbers.
NOT HOT - CNN’s instance on using that lamer Wolf Blitzer.
NOT HOT - CNN’s best political team on television slogan which is getting overplayed. I think its time for a new tagline/slogan.
WANNABE HOT - FBN for running full page ads claiming some kind of victory over CNBC when they were on tape. Now, if FBN was in more homes and I could see the numbers.. maybe this would be relevant. Because like I’ve stated before. CNBCW is in the same or MORE homes than FBN and was also live. And I don’t guess you need to be a stock trader to figure out which one had the better coverage. Hint: The one who doesn’t delve into politics.
Comment by Terance — January 26, 2008 @ 11:24 am
UP: Fox Business Network airing live programming this past Monday.
DOWN: CNBC going to tape this past Monday.
Comment by Bob — January 26, 2008 @ 11:27 am
I agree with the NOT HOT being Gibson’s remarks…..poor taste no matter how you slice it…
Comment by wenchie — January 26, 2008 @ 11:34 am
HOT: CNN’s debate and their political coverage
Comment by wenchie — January 26, 2008 @ 11:35 am
hot: the sc primaries coverage on cnn vs fox. we will just have to wait for the results
Comment by jose calderon — January 26, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
John Gibson’s outrageous and slanderous comments and Fox’s lack of any statements about the issue and his faux apology.
Mike: I don’t know about Aussie law but in this country I seriously doubt a dead person can sue for slander!!!
The only thing really hot this past week was the huge CNN ratings for the SC Dem debate.
Comment by Ira — January 26, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
Not Hot: John Gibson for the obvious reasons
NOt HOT: Bret Baier not realizing that Lincoln was shot and killed.
Comment by randy — January 26, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
Not Hot…John Gibson over and over again.
Comment by Liz — January 26, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
NOT HOT: Gibson’s remarks and half-assed apology.
NOT SURE if HOT or NOT: Keith Olbermann blogging at The Daily Kos. For the third time in 2 weeks, Keith Olberman is posting his sentiments from apologies to regurgitating his WPITW segment there. He is commenting there (only on his own posts) as well. I do not know, I think it is a bit odd for a journalist to blog at an extreme left wing blog.
Comment by untitled — January 26, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
HOT: FOX Business Network, for working on MLK day when the financial apocalypse looked certain.
NOT: FOX News Channel, between John Gibson and the EA/Live Desk deal.
Comment by Charles — January 26, 2008 @ 5:09 pm
Not Hot: THE POLITICISATION of ANY comments on this blog. I’m sick to death of reading un-related political rants on this once civil, well debated AND ON-TOPIC blog and it’s putting me off posting.
Comment by Paul Tomlinson — January 26, 2008 @ 5:19 pm
Not Hot: Cable channels delivering narratives that campaigns are pushing. It feels like all three channels are being lazy. Instead of getting out there and doing actual reporting, they often just push an already formed narative dressed up with a live shot and b-roll.
Comment by chase — January 26, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
Hot: Erica Hill. Apparently her move to 360 is a promotion. Good for Her. I bet this makes her the primary fill-in for Anderson as well.
Comment by jmkaib — January 26, 2008 @ 9:20 pm
Hot - EA and the gaming community vs Fox News. G4 has spent a lot of time on the issue, gamer have been getting organized and showing that they have muscle, and the author Cooper Lawrence gave an interview admitting her mistakes. So much for thinking gamers were a a bunch of lazy slackers.
Hot - Ratings. ALL Cable news nets are showing an increase in ratings after three years of declines.
Not - John Gibson’s non-apology apology. His radio show runs a faux Howard Stern bit not worth of a small town “Morning Zoo” show in which he mocks an person’s death because of a part they played in a movie. Stupid frat boy humor is for DJs in Peoria and now for anchors of so0called news programs.
Comment by Cory!! Strode — January 26, 2008 @ 9:30 pm
Hot: Not Hot: THE POLITICISATION of ANY comments on this blog. I’m sick to death of reading un-related political rants on this once civil, well debated AND ON-TOPIC blog and it’s putting me off posting.
Comment by Paul Tomlinson — January 26, 2008 @ 5:19 pm
Comment by daubermaus — January 26, 2008 @ 9:46 pm
Couldn’t agree more with 13 & 17. So tired of the same people with the same political rants that have absolutely nothing to do with the post, no matter how they try to stretch it.
Comment by Sarah — January 27, 2008 @ 1:05 am
Just to add…
Hot: David Gregory filling in as co-anchor of election coverage for Chris Matthews.
While I don’t think David Gregory has an electrifying personality, it was so much better to watch someone who doesn’t make references to obscure political contests that are decades old, biblical metaphors about the candidates or general hyperbole.
I know this was only because Matthews was at some event and he will be back for the SOTU and the Florida on Tuesday, but I hope MSNBC can see how bad Matthews is as co-anchor.
Also, they seem to get a lot of interviews with the candidates as well as spokespeople and prominent supporters. CNN does a lot of interesting inside baseball stuff, but MSNBC seems to be hitting a stride (not brilliant coverage, but not nearly as bad as when they started).
Comment by FishOil — January 27, 2008 @ 5:00 am
NOT HOT - It seems Brenda Buttner and Tom Adkins are married. Imagine my shock! SHAME! And I’m also embarrassed to quote newshounds seeing that its a partisan site. But, hey, its kinda hard to argue with the facts.
“This tidbit of information blurted out by Buttner shines a little light on the seamy ethics of Fox News reporters. What mainstream reporter would interview her spouse (and prior to that, her fiance) on national television repeatedly without disclosing the connection? Does Adkins get paid each time he’s on the show? Is Buttner thus enriching herself indirectly by having her husband on?”
Comment by Terance — January 27, 2008 @ 9:29 am
Btw, I do realize this is old news.. but its NEWS to me!
Comment by Terance — January 27, 2008 @ 9:35 am
Sorry this is off-topic but it’s in response to Terrance’s comment.
Terance - I heard her once make reference to this on Bulls and Bears but you’re right, I don’t believe there is a disclaimer on the show when he’s there. There’s no note of it in her Fox bio either. But I didn’t realize she was a Rhodes scholar - that is mentioned there.
Also, isn’t Dagan McDowell married to Jonas Max Ferris? I can’t seem to find it in print anywhere but I thought I remembered hearing that on Cashin In.
Comment by Char — January 27, 2008 @ 11:13 am
Dagyn is exempt from such restrictions because she’s a hottie! I think its different because Brenda is often hosting this show.. from my recollection, Dagyn was mostly in a contributor type role. And I haven’t seen her husband on FBN at all?? I’m sure Lurker can shed some light on the interaction and whether Daygn’s husband appears on FBN.
Comment by Terance — January 27, 2008 @ 11:19 am
Terance & Char: It has been a few years since I have seen Adkins appear on “Bulls and Bears.” Ask those honest geniuses at Newshounds when Adkins last appeared on the show.
Terance: A question for you: When Monica Crowley appears on Hannity and Colmes, should it be disclosed that she is Alan’s sister-in-law?
Comment by Ira — January 27, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
Ira — Being related by marriage is a whole lot different than one’s spouse. All I really know about Monica is she used to host Connected Coast to Coast with that cockamamy Ron Reagan. Maybe ImNotBlue can grace us with the wisdom he possesses on the subject of Ms. Crowley!
Comment by Terance — January 27, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
Chase: “Not Hot: Cable channels delivering narratives that campaigns are pushing. It feels like all three channels are being lazy. Instead of getting out there and doing actual reporting, they often just push an already formed narative dressed up with a live shot and b-roll.”
Nicely put, Chase. I was hoping for far more in-depth journalism on the candidates during this primary season. Between the dressed-up campaign naratives you mentioned and the over the top descriptives of campaign happenings, I’ve been rather disappointed in the cable news networks (which plays into my HOT choice of Stewart).
HOT: Jon Stewart pointing out the cable news’ ridiculous and hyper rhetoric. Funny and on the mark.
To see clip, go to TheDailyShow dot com and search “Mitt Romney Erupts”.
HOT: McCain’s latest campaign ad is nearly all made up of video clips from CNN and FNC. I noticed that the FNC logo isn’t seen in the ad perhaps to keep FNC from trying to stop him from using the footage like they did with his last ad (in which he used footage of him from a FNC debate). I personally haven’t seen the other candidates use ads made of from so many cable news clips like this. Of course, if I’m wrong and they have done an ad like this, then this item isn’t really all that hot after all.
To see ad, go to YouTube dot com and search: “Web Ad: Democrats’ Worst Nightmare”.
NOT HOT: Gibson’s inappropriate “humor” and his insincere apology. Add to that his remark about women gassing up the SUV so they can go to the mall and buy stuff they really don’t need didn’t exactly do much to help him either. I guess Gibson hasn’t seen all the SUV driving men out at Best Buy on the weekends buying stuff they don’t need.
NOT HOT: All the cable news speculation into why Heath Ledger died (especially after the talking heads say “we probably shouldn’t be speculating here but…”).
NOT HOT: EV vs. FNC’s “Live Desk”. It looks like FNC should have vetted the game and Lawerence’s info better.
Just curious, does anyone know what happened with Montel Williams on F&F yesterday morning? The hosts were wanting him to discuss Ledger’s death but he brought up the lack of media coverage on the death of our soldiers this year. It got somewhat contentious at moments. Kelly Wright said that Williams would be back after the commercial to talk about his new book but Williams did not come back. Did Williams walk out or did F&F not want him to come back on?
Comment by STP — January 27, 2008 @ 1:08 pm
HOT: Nothing this week. Even the debate was just tepid.
NOT: John Gibson’s comments.. it’s not nice to ’speak ill about the dead’.
Comment by Grandpa D — January 27, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
Maybe ImNotBlue can grace us with the wisdom he possesses on the subject of Ms. Crowley!
Comment by Terance — January 27, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
Nope… when it comes to my sweetie Monica, I live in a fantasy world where she isn’t married. I can give you info on the dreamscape… but as for actual stuff, I got nothing.
_____________________
However, in the whole debate about Gibson and HL… I think the most interesting comment (which hasn’t been addressed by anyone around here) was from Ira… and I’d like to repost it here, because it’s gotten lost in the Gibson post, and maybe someone can address it. He said:
“And yet the Left, and many on the Right, had no problem mocking the death of Anna Nicole Smith.”
Comment by Ira — January 26, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
I think that’s a very interesting (and correct) point. What’s the difference? Why was it okay to mock ANS, but it’s horrible and a fire-worthy offence to do the same about HL? Didn’t she also have a family? Why the selective outrage?
Comment by ImNotBlue — January 27, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
INB - I don’t think it was OK to mock ANS’s death. However, HL kept a fairly low profile for an actor and ANS was a bit of an exhibitionist, albeit a victim of the many who wanted to use her. That may have been the excuse behind the selective outrage. But I repeat, taking shots at dead people while the body is still warm is not good.
And you guys crack me over your “Monica fantasies,” in a good way. Thanks for the reason to smile tonight.
Comment by Char — January 27, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
NOT: Dagan McDowell married to Jonas Max Ferris??? Help me, I’m getting a mental picture.
Not: The use of the words ‘get this’ on ‘news’ programs. Fox does it all the time, maybe it’s just me.
Comment by laural — January 27, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
#26, I saw the Montel Williams interview before the break on F/F yesterday morning. I had to go to work and didn’t know that he did not return. I haven’t seen Montel’s show in a long time. So, maybe it’s better now. But, for years he made his name doing tabloid shows on paternity testing, cheating husbands and wives, and the psychic Sylvia Browne. Unless he has dramatically improved his show, he had no credibility attacking anyone else’s news coverage.
Comment by Scott — January 27, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
Scott,
I never watch Montel so I couldn’t even tell you what he covers on his show but as his is not a news show, I don’t think he can be held to the same sort of “news reporting” standards as FNC. But that doesn’t really matter to be anyway. Spud’s item about Drew Peterson walking off from Shep made me wonder if Montel did too or if F&F didn’t want him back on the set after he wouldn’t talk about Heath Ledger.
Comment by STP — January 27, 2008 @ 8:43 pm
correction: But that doesn’t really matter to me anyway.
Comment by STP — January 27, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
Blue: In addition to the mention of Anna Nicole Smith, I’ll add the name of Natalee Holloway to the mix.
How many here (Rodrigo, where are you?) mocked her and the coverage of her disappearance/likely death as “just another white woman?”
Certainly John Gibson should be criticized, but all this hypocritical moral outrage being posted here? Give me a break!
Comment by Ira — January 27, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
I don’t recall them mocking her, Ira. I do recall them complaining about the obsession of the media on certain select missing women stories. Yes, it’s a classic whipping boy subject but it’s also true that cable news in particular goes into overdrive on this story but the broadcast networks tend to put things more in perspective.
BTW, Terance I don’t know how you could miss that Buttner news. I covered it on the blog at least a year and a half ago.
Comment by Spud — January 27, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
Spud, its awfully strange for me to forget something like that. I’m thinking maybe you didn’t post a picture of his long hair! Because if that happened it would’ve been seared in my memory. Btw, I see him all the time but had no idea what his name was.
Comment by Terance — January 28, 2008 @ 7:29 am
http://insidecable.blogsome.com/2006/01/28/conflict-of-interest/
Comment by Spud — January 28, 2008 @ 10:07 am
Spud: Anna Nicole Smith is the better example.
But my basic point remains: mocking dead celebrities immediately after their deaths, while patently distasteful, did not begin with John Gibson!
Comment by Ira — January 28, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
Ira, are you in denial or just don’t like gay people? The collision of circumstances in the ongoing John Gibson/Heath Ledger saga is he gay bashed a dead guy by proxy. You keep asking the wrong questions. It has nothing to do with Anna Nicole or any other B/C list celebrity. We’re talking about a straight guy who was mocked for playing a gay guy in a movie. So, Gibson let his homophobia/hate out of the box on a straight guy.. Now, substitute homophobia/hate with anti-Semitism. (and not the false News Corp kind towards Judith Reagan) Certainly you can see that “hating” for the hell of it should not be tolerated.
Comment by Terance — January 28, 2008 @ 12:52 pm
Terance: All I’ll say is that you are making assumptions about Gibson that may or may not be true! You are certainly entitled, but neither you nor I know the man.
And why inject the Judith Regan lawsuit, which I’m sure you know was amicably settled Friday, into the discussion?
I’ll repeat what I said on the other thread: many people here cannot accept that unlike MSNBC, The Golf Channel, ESPN and others petrified by political correctness; Fox is not going to suspend or fire Gibson.
Let’s move on. I’m tired of this subject.
Comment by Ira — January 28, 2008 @ 7:47 pm
Ira - If you don’t want to talk about Gibson, stop bringing him up.
Btw, I didn’t say anything about the undetermined amount of cash which came out of FNC’s coffer due to this lawsuit being settled. What I did bring up was them saying she was anti-Semitic only to retract that statement. And that was in relation to “hate” towards individuals due to race, religion or sexual orientation.. ya know, as in hate is hate.
Comment by Terance — January 28, 2008 @ 7:58 pm
Opps, I meant News Corp instead of FNC.
Comment by Terance — January 28, 2008 @ 7:59 pm