Post your reactions to tonight’s CNN Republican debate here…

Daily Live+SD Ratings for January 29, 2008

(more…)

News Hounds blogs about Hillary Clinton’s appearance on the Hannity & Colmes program last night…

Hell almost froze over last night as Hillary Clinton did an interview on Hannity & Colmes. I just heard Alan Colmes say on his radio show that she said she’d be available but she wanted to be interviewed by Chris Wallace.

I know I’m in the minority but I think HIllary could do a lot for herself by facing down Hannity. I think she’d win over some people if she appeared and showed up with horns on her head, for example.

Go ahead and rake me over the coals for it. But I think Democrats do themselves a big disservice by not taking the bullies by the horns.

The Politico’s Shenanigans notes that John Edwards dropped out today and how Edwards didn’t appear on FNC but Obama and Clinton did…

Going back to our earlier post about John Edwards touting a FNC survey after the Las Vegas debate despite his ongoing boycott of Fox News, eyebrows have raised over the fact that Edwards never once went on FNC and now he’s out of the race. There’s no way to prove one affected the other but…put a “W” in the Fox column.

MSNBC’s Super Tuesday coverage plans…

The networks of NBC News – NBC, MSNBC, MSNBC.com, NBC 2 Go and NBC News Radio – will present continuing live coverage of the Super Tuesday primaries, when voters in 24 states cast their ballots in Democratic and Republican presidential primaries and caucuses.

“NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams will lead the network coverage, joined by NBC Washington Bureau Chief and moderator of “Meet the Press” Tim Russert, with live coverage of election results on NBC, 10-11 p.m. ET. The special coverage will be live across all time zones. NBC News Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw will contribute analysis, with “Today” anchor Ann Curry reporting on exit polls. NBC News correspondents Andrea Mitchell, David Gregory, Kelly O’Donnell, Ron Allen, Lee Cowan and Kevin Corke will report from the campaigns across the country. NBC News will also present a special one-hour edition of “Nightly News,” which will be updated with election results across all time zones. In addition, Williams will also anchor network special reports throughout primetime as primary and caucus results are available.
(more…)

The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea blogs about an unfortunate situation that Kyra Phillips created for herself today. With video…

Gerri: Alright Don, you come too.
Kyra: We could bring him along with the girls.
Gerri: Come on!
Kyra: He’s paying! Thanks, Gerri.
Don: A little sandwich!
Kyra: Ooh!
Gerri: Whoa, I have to go now!
Kyra: Yeah, good time. You don’t want to talk about the reverse oreo!

Willis was visibly embarrassed by Phillips’ joke, though Lemon seemed to enjoy it, laughing out loud and announcing, “Oh, she said it! I’m glad she said it.”

MSNBC announced that Keith Olbermann will be hosting a special 10pm edition of Countdown following the Democratic debate on CNN…

Keith Olbermann will anchor a special edition of “Countdown” Thursday, Jan. 31, 10-11 p.m. ET. The special live “Countdown” airs after the Democratic candidates debate in Los Angeles.

“After you watch it there, come and understand it here,” said Keith Olbermann, of what to expect from the special edition of “Countdown.”

MSNBC will also present a special 10 p.m. ET edition of “Hardball with Chris Matthews” tonight, immediately following the Republican candidates debate.

“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” telecasts weeknights, 8-9 p.m. ET on MSNBC. Izzy Povich is executive producer. “Hardball with Chris Matthews” telecasts weeknights, 5-6 p.m. ET and 7-8 p.m. ET on MSNBC. John Reiss is executive producer.

Shep is getting a lot of press this week with the Super Bowl special this weekend. Boston Daily has an interview with Smith…

Boston Daily: Tell us about the show. What do you have planned for us?

Shepard Smith: Oh, man, we’re going to mix America’s two favorite things: politics and football. I’m really excited about it. We’re going to have the best players in politics and the best players in football. It’s a perfect mix for me.

BD: We know politicians love to rub elbows with football players, but will football fans tune in for the politics?

SS: It’s two days before Super Tuesday, maybe the biggest Super Tuesday in the history of the country, and it’s only going to decide what’s going to happen to the nation over the next four years. It’s a brilliant move on the part of this company. On a day when you have a natural audience already there, to put on a something that really matters to this nation. My guess is there are easier ways to make money, but I don’t know if there’s a better public service.

There’s one part of CNN’s January numbers release that has me scratching my head and asking questions…

During the 10:00 p.m. time period (M-F), CNN delivered the most viewers in the key demographic P25-54, with 485k viewers, while FNC posted 466k and MSNBC had 338k. In a head-to-head program comparisons, Anderson Cooper 360 was the top-rated program at 10pm throughout January with 382k viewers while FNC’s On the Record with Greta Van Susteren placed second with 360k. This represents CNN’s first monthly 10:00 p.m. time period and program wins in the key demographic P25-54 since November 2001.

Ok, I get that at 10pm CNN had more viewers than FNC in the Demo. But this program name stuff is confusing me because there were chunks of time when On The Record was not on the air but Debate/Primary coverage was. So when CNN says AC 360 beat On The Record, are they factoring out the times when On The Record wasn’t on the air?

Conversely there were times when AC 360 wasn’t officially on the air during primaries and debates but they still flashed the AC 360 bug in the lower thirds, something I already noted, as if to say it was AC 360 even though it would be hard to argue it as such in my opinion. So in addition to factoring out On the Record’s non appearances at 10pm, are they also factoring out AC 360’s non-appearances at 10pm?

If the answer is no to either of those questions, a third question is raised: how can CNN say AC 360 beat On The Record for the month of January then?

I would like to see some better sourcing of exactly what CNN is considering as AC 360 time and what it isn’t. I don’t have this issue with regards to FNC because it’s plainly obvious when On the Record is on the air and when it isn’t.

Earlier this month I noted that in the head to head matchup between 9am-5pm ET dayside newscasts, HLN beat MSNBC in both Total Viewers and the Demo. I speculated that January would see a swing for MSNBC in dayside due to all the primary coverage. Well, the January numbers are now in and the results aren’t as conclusively in MSNBC’s favor as I had figured they would be.

Here are the numbers for November, December, and January. I’m including November and December again because I now have more granularity in the Demo breakouts than I had last time.
(more…)

CNN announced this morning that Scott Zamost had joined the networks Investigative Team as an investigative producer…

Scott Zamost, an investigative journalist who has won nearly every major broadcast journalism award for his hard-hitting reports, has joined CNN as an investigative producer, it was announced today by Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions. Zamost will be based at the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta.

“For more than 15 years, Scott has maintained a reputation as one of the most astute and accomplished investigative journalists in the country,” Nelson said. “So when we learned that he was seeking new opportunities to expand his investigative efforts, we were not surprised that many networks and news stations actively sought him out. I’m pleased to say we won.”
(more…)

FBN will have special coverage today regarding an announcement from the Federal Reserve…

Today, FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto will join Davis Asman and Liz Claman in the 2pm ET hour of FOX Business to discuss what Americans can expect from this afternoon’s Fed announcement. Cavuto and an all-star panel of Fed experts and business leaders will remain throughout most of the hour to provide post-announcement analysis.

FNC dominated the night with big numbers for the SOTU in Total Viewers and the Demo, beating MSNBC and CNN combined. Paradoxically, more people tuned in for MSNBC’s post SOTU analysis with Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews than watched the MSNBC broadcast of the SOTU itself; the only network to experience this phenomenon. This would suggest MSNBC’s hosts are pulling in viewers who want to hear what they have to say about the SOTU; presumably Keith Olbermann. They’ll watch the SOTU elsewhere but then tune in to MSNBC for reaction.

Daily Live+SD Ratings for January 28,2008

(more…)

Here is the January program ranker. FNC claimed 14 out of the top 16 spots in cable news ranked on Total Viewers (Live).
(more…)

The Motley Fool’s Rich Smith notes Geri Willis’ appearance on The Daily Show and then accuses Willis and Stewart of misinterpreting something that Jeff Macke said on Fast Money…

The real irony here is that Stewart actually managed to prove his point, albeit accidentally. Despite having hours, perhaps days, to parse “bald guy’s” statement, he ultimately came up with gibberish. That’s probably forgivable in a comedy host, but I’m amazed that CNN’s “Personal Finance Editor” could listen to the same statement — twice! — and still wind up getting it 100% wrong.

Kind of makes you wonder whether the talking heads on TV are a case of the blind leading the 20/20-sighted. But it does give us a pretty clear answer to Stewart’s question: Can these networks help us understand what’s going on with the economy?

Answer: Nope. Not if they can’t figure it out themselves.

Update: This incident was brought up Monday on Fast Money…
(more…)

The New York Observer’s Felix Gillette interviews Shepard Smith in advance of the big pre-Super Bowl extravaganza on Fox Broadcast this weekend.

Mr. Smith explained that later this week he will fly to Glendale, Ariz., site of Super Bowl XLII, where he will interview Archie Manning about all things Eli. Afterward, Fox News’ executive producer of political programming Marty Ryan will splice the highlights into Super Sunday—an experimental football-and-politics spectacular that Mr. Smith will be hosting for Fox broadcast stations, around the country, on the morning of Eli’s big game.

The three-hour special, said Mr. Smith, will begin with politics and ease into football. Along the way, Chris Wallace will interview presidential candidates. Alexis Glick, of the Fox Business Network, will assess the state of Super Bowl ads. Fox station reporters will file dispatches from the campaign trail. And Mr. Smith will report from behind-the-scenes as members of Fox Sports prepare for kickoff.

“There’s technology being used now that has never been brought together before,” said Mr. Smith, who is an outspoken admirer of flashy news graphics and shooshy special effects. “I’m kind of a techno freak. So that’ll be fun.”

Even those at Fox who don’t necessarily know Eli Manning from a Waffle House booth jockey can still feel gung-ho about the upcoming News Corp. synergy.

Broadcasting & Cable’s Marisa Guthrie writes about the January numbers…

Fox News Channel finished January as the most watched cable news network, jumping to the fourth-most-watched cable network in primetime. (Fox News was seventh for the month in total day.)

In total day, Fox News averaged 944,000 viewers (257,000 in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic) compared with CNN’s 609,000 (213,000 in the demo).