Networks

A Democratic aide on Capitol Hill writes into FishbowlDC, “It’s amazing what you can learn about media outlets from the placement of their story on today’s jobs report.”

Check out the screenshots below.

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Forget Propofol. As one might imagine, reading a Q & A interview with CNN’s John King could easily serve as a sleep aide for the perfect afternoon snooze. But before you slumber, one brief part of the interview caught our eye: What led King into journalism? The interviewer is Joseph Basco, who met the CNNer behind the broadcast tent at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, the site of the recent GOP presidential debate. Basco, the News Editor of student-run Spinnaker blog, said King made himself entirely available and didn’t turn away any question.

Why did you get into journalism? “Curiosity. I’m just a curious person, and I was at school, and I just wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I had a Shakespeare professor who said: ‘You know, you really like to write. You should go try some journalism.’ So I said OK. I took a few courses, and I had a smart enough professor who said: ‘I can only teach you so much in class. If you really want to do this, try an internship.’ I got an internship with the Associated Press. I got to cover trials, fires, cops and robbers, the state legislature and the governor. And I said: ‘Wow, they pay people to do this?’”

Read the full interview here and enjoy your nap!

Political reporters and pundits take note. If Fox News finds you worthy (and we already know they tend to waver on Politico reporters) you may wind up being asked to appear on a new online talk show they have in the works.

FishbowlDC has learned that the program in development is called The Greene Room, to be hosted by Jehmu Greene. Greene joined FNC in 2010 as a contributor. The format will be similar to the “The Five” focusing mainly on politics but also other topics du jour. All women co-hosts… Margaret Hoover, Alicia Menendez, Dee Dee Benkie, and Kirsten Powers are the names being considered with Jehmu as main host.

We’re told that it will start off as an online http://live.foxnews.com/ program. But if successful, it may be a new weekend program on FNC. Online producer Maria Karlsson has been tasked with running it. While the details of the show are in “heavy discussion” right now, a start date is unknown at this time.

It may have worked the first six times that GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich blasted the news media for posing questions he didn’t deem important enough. But after Wolf Blitzer delivered the knockout punch in the recent debate, Blitzer seemed to declare: ENOUGH, answer the question.

You’d think Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) would learn. But no. This morning he tried to pull a Newt by going after CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield when she asked him to comment on Newt’s cheating as it pertains to the presidential campaign by way of his own dealings with prostitutes.

The result is a deliciously awkward exchange between Banfield and Vitter as he deflects his past by claiming the American people are focused on the economy. He acts genuinely shocked that she’d bring up the topic and says CNN will not determine the election — the American people will.

How Banfeld enters the cheating minefield: “You seemed to manage that baggage very well. I want you to weigh in on Newt Gingrich’s baggage and handling that baggage and what it is like for a politician who has some serious baggage trying to be elected.”

Vitter reacts by trashing CNN: “Ashley, the good news is, in America, it’s not up to CNN, it’s up to the American people and it’s up to voters.” Banfield: “Well, I appreciate that you say it’s not up to CNN, but I like to say we’re a messenger here.” Vitter pounces back by saying that Banfield is “outdoing out King” (he corrects himself, saying, John King). Banfield snaps, “I’m not trying to outdo anyone, sir. I am holding you accountable for the things you did.”

After ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jake Tapper hosted “This Week” on Sunday so soon after George Stephanopoulos resumed hosting the program, journos began clamoring to have him there permanently.

This isn’t the first time that Tapper has received an uprising of support among Washington journalists. But it is another example of a crowd that isn’t pleased with ABC’s choices where “This Week” is concerned.

WaPo‘s “Right Turn” blogger Jennifer Rubin began rousing the troops, saying, “DEAR ABC SUITS: Give Jake the gig permanently.” Former George W. Bush Speechwriter and journalist David Frum backed Rubin. “Make it permanent!” demanded National Review Online‘s Jonah Goldberg.

Of course things online can turn wacko. When follower Jim Ehlan, who refers to himself as a “big fat liberal,” said he likes Tapper more than NBC’s David Gregory, Tapper disagreed. “Jake Tapper, I’ll follow you, you’re better than David Gregory on that other channel. Thanks for your time – I’ve got a no stalking policy.” We like a guy with bold policies. Tapper replied, “I don’t agree, but not to worry, I was just a substitute host.”

If Tapper really wants the host’s chair or thinks he ought to have it, he’s not showing his cards: “Thanks for all the kind words, folks! Glad you liked @ThisWeekABC ….back to the WH beat tomorrow, see you there! Have a great Sunday -jt”

We took a few weeks off counting up dongs on the morning shows. But in our quest to see how female pundits and journos are considered (or not) by the networks, it’s time to check back in with the Sunday morning political talk show circuit.

NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show: 2

Andrew Sullivan, Newsweek
Katty Kay, BBC
Michael Duffy, TIME
Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post

CBS’s “Face the Nation”: 0

The Miami Herald‘s Marc Caputo, RCP‘s Scott Conroy and CBS News’s John Dickerson. It must be noted that two guests of the program will be former GOP Presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

NBC’s “Meet the Press”: 1

Joe Scarborough
Host, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Presidential Historian
Chuck Todd
Political Director, NBC News
Chief White House Correspondent, NBC News

ABC’s “This Week”: 2

Donna Brazile, ABC News Contributor
Austan Goolsbee, Former Chairman, Obama Council of Economic Advisers
Laura Ingraham
Radio Host, “The Laura Ingraham Show”, Fox News Contributor
George Will, ABC News

Mark Whitaker, Executive V.P. and Managing Editor of CNN Worldwide, kicked off CNN’s week of in-depth Super PAC coverage with an editor’s note this morning. The series addresses what they are and how much influence they’ll have in the 2012 presidential election.

The week-long series will air daily on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, John King USA and throughout prime time, including Anderson Cooper 360, Piers Morgan Tonight and Erin Burnett OutFront.

Whitaker initially uses Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart to help make his points. “You know that a news story has broken through, as we like to say in the journalism business, when Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart start playing it for laughs. In the last few weeks, the dynamic duo of Comedy Central has had a field day with the subject of super PACs, those fundraising machines that can raise unlimited donations to fund political ads, provided that they are not officially affiliated with a specific candidate.”

Details of what the network will be doing… “We will go behind the scenes at American Crossroads, Karl Rove‘s conservative PAC that helped launched the trend (and the conspiracy theories). We’ll profile Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas billionaire who wrote a $5 million check to a PAC that waged a nasty air war against Mitt Romney in South Carolina, helping to pave the way for Newt Gingrich‘s stunning primary victory on Saturday. We’ll air an investigation into how super PACs have outmaneuvered a bewildering obstacle course of campaign finance regulations, and given rise to calls for a whole new maze of do’s and don’ts.”

For more on what the week’s coverage will entail, click on the link above.

Correction: This post originally misidentified the anchor of “Special Report” as Shepard Smith. It is actually Bret Baier.

A new study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs found that Fox New’s “Special Report” program had the “most balanced overall coverage” of the Republican presidential field. That’s in comparison to the nightly newscasts of CBS, ABC and NBC.

We can already hear Bill O’Reilly‘s “talking points memo” touting the news.

CNN and MSNBC were not included in the study. “Special Report,” anchored by Bret Baier, was considered because it is “most like the network news shows in content and presentation.”

CBS’s coverage of the candidates was most positive, followed by FNC, then NBC and finally ABC.

The study also found that Mitt Romney, who has remained the frontrunner for almost the entire race, has received the most negative news coverage on the whole.

“The media love a horse race and hate a frontrunner,” explained Robert Lichter, director of CMPA.

NBC anchor Brian Williams has gained a reputation for being a smart, hip, funny kind of broadcaster. His frequent appearances on Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show and other comedy shows have raised his visibility as a different brand of newsman. So, when Gawker recently published a personal email between him and website founder Nick Denton criticizing both Gawker as a website AND a recent performer on NBC’s own SNL, we took notice.

From: “Williams, BD (NBCUniversal)”
Date: January 15, 2012 15:56:25 EST
To:

ND:

I hope you’re well. Happy New Year. A big congratulations to the new freelance weekend guy, Taylor Bernam. He’s done some good posts right out of the box. I do wish the main page featured more TV coverage (Brooklyn hippster [sic] Lana Del Rey had one of the worst outings in SNL history last night — booked on the strength of her TWO SONG web EP, the least-experienced musical guest in the show’s history, for starters). In my humble opinion as a loyal customer (you know I love you but the Blog View button will be the eventual cause of my death) and while I know you’re in the midst of an editor change, weekends have been allowed to go awfully fallow — and it was a fallow holiday period for those of us who check your shit 10 times a day by iphone. I know you’ve been watching NBC Nightly News religiously each evening and I’ll no doubt be getting a withering, detailed critique from you straight away.

BW

As you can imagine, NBC had a hissy fit and emailed Gawker asking that they take the post down. Naturally, Gawker published that email, too.

From: M., Erika (NBCUniversal)
To: Gawker
Sent: Mon Jan 16 12:26:59 2012
Subject: Brian Williams

Can you please have the post of Brian Williams’ email to Nick Denton taken down immediately? That was sent in confidence as friends and absolutely never intended to be public. A speedy removal would go a long way in maintaining the trust and respect we have for your site.

My guess is that having your respected newsman use potty language and badmouth his own network didn’t go over very well. NBC confirms that Williams never intended the email to be public, he was just emailing his buddy,  Denton. Which, by the way, Gawker doesn’t deny. They freely admit they published the personal email from Williams and that he and Denton email “like a couple of gossiping secretaries.” Did Gawker betray the trust of Williams? Bottom line: Williams should know better. There is no eight-second delay in the world of email. If you screw up and get in trouble, you can’t fix it in post. And does he really think that a publisher with the rep of Denton would ACTUALLY have his back?

We have reached out to NBC for a comment on the situation.

The News and Observer, out of Raleigh, NC, sat down with Bret Baier to talk about his “meteoric” rise from a local reporter to hotshot nightly anchor at Fox News. Baier got his start at the local WRAL and got his first break covering tornadoes. The News and Observer chronicles how Baier started at the Atlanta bureau of Fox News and ultimately hosted the Fox News/Wall Street GOP Debate last night from Myrtle Beach. Apparently, in the early days, the “bureau” was nothing more than “a cell phone and a fax machine in his apartment.” The interview drags on and on and never really draws anything interesting out of Baier. In fact. That’s the most interesting thing about the interview. It’s not interesting. Baier has textbook answers to textbook questions and never strays far from prepared answers. One would think that with the state of South Carolina voting in their primary less than a week away, SOMETHING interesting would come of that? Sadly, no. Baier also gets the obligatory question about the health of his son, Paul. Paul has several heart defects that have kept him in and out of hospital visits over the course of his life. Baier says the next surgery is set for after Super Tuesday.