Bob Franken - FishbowlDC

Fish Food

Betsy Rothstein — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:59:25 +0000

(A Sprinkling of Things We Think You Ought to Know...)

Narcissism, Weiner and More… In Monday’s NYT op-ed section, Ross Douthat wrote a piece worth reading called “The Online Looking Glass” that might as well have been written pointedly for some Washingtonians. The story instructs that technology affects a person’s character and sometimes for the worse. Take a certain Weiner, who is obscenely well-versed in Social Media. Ross wrote, “In the sad case of Representative Anthony Weiner’s virtual adultery, the Internet era’s defining vice has been thrown into sharp relief. It isn’t lust or smut or infidelity, though online life encourages all three. It’s a desperate, adolescent narcissism.” He later added: “The rituals of social media, it seems, make status-seekers and exhibitionists of us all.” Douthat is an op-ed columnist for NYT, conservative author, a film critic for National Review and formerly a senior editor at The Atlantic. Read the full piece here.

Is Olbermann the real Twitter Moron? Politico‘s Patrick Gavin, in his new gig writing for the publication’s main site, wrote about Current TV Keith Olbermann‘s widely known Twitter fights over the weekend. Gavin says the frequency of Olbermann’s spats may be numbing the shock effect he intends. An example: “’Dear Moron: I had walked in the shoes for a year. I had just increased the run to TWO minutes,’ he wrote to @myfivefingers on the topic of footwear.” Gavin interviewed a psychologist and a number of journos for the piece including Syndicated Columnist and former CNNer Bob Franken and The Daily Caller‘s Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson, who thinks Googling yourself is detrimental to your happiness. Read the full story here.

Meet Ann Coulter The Heritage Foundation and WMAL are coming together on June 17 to throw Conservative Commentator and Author Ann Coulter a book party. Her book: Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Damaging America. The party will transpire on the Heritage Foundation’s rooftop. Coulter will autograph books that you will purchase if you so desire and she’ll field questions from the audience. The party host is Michael Gonzalez, VP of Communications for the Heritage Foundation. WMAL host Mary Katharine Ham, also a video journalist for The Daily Caller, will make a special appearance. Time: 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. News Inquiries: (202) 675-1761.

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Bob Franken to Write Weekly Column for Hearst

Betsy Rothstein — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:05:30 +0000

Former CNN reporter Bob Franken has joined Hearst Newspapers. A statement from Hearst reports that he’ll write a weekly D.C.-based column for the Hearst News Service, starting July 8. Hearst: “During his 20-plus-year career at CNN, Franken served as the network’s Capitol Hill correspondent, Supreme Court reporter, White House reporter and covered many major stories including the 9/11 attacks, two Iraq Wars, the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and presidential and congressional campaigns. A native of Baltimore, Franken began his broadcast career in Marshfield, Wis. He later worked in Charleston, W. Va., Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, where reporters were required to shoot their own video.”

He worked for CNN from 1986 to 2007.

Richard Dunham, Washington bureau chief for Hearst Newspapers, in announcing Franken’s new position, said: “Bob is a perceptive observer of the Washington scene, with a sense of humor and a distinctly outside-the-Beltway perspective.”

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Roll Call Goes Glam for 21 Years of HOH

Matt Dornic — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:29:06 +0000

Big names gathered for last night’s uber-glam bash honoring the 21st anniversary of Roll Call’s “Heard on the Hill” and a recent refresh of the RC website. The festivities took place at swanky Coco Sala where guests noshed on an array of chocolate-themed appetizers and cocktails (who knew you could mix chocolate and mojito?).

Maybe it was the chocolate…or maybe the cocktails, but RC Publisher Peter Cherukuri managed to pull Senator John Thune, Senator Trent Lott, Juleanna Glover, Yebbie Watkins, Mike Feldman, Debbie Dingell, Christina Sevilla and Senator John Breaux to help celebrate his pub’s successes.

Representing the media were Former HOHer – The Sleuth’s Mary Ann Akers, Michael Isikoff, C-SPAN’s Greta Brawner, Bloomberg’s Tim Burger,Susan Davis of the WSJ, WaPo’s Paul Kane, MSNBC’s Bob Franken, Chad Pergram of FNC, MySpace’s Lee Brenner, NYT’s Carl Hulse, Emily Lenzner from ABC News and the Examiner’s Kiki Ryan.

Christine and I were on hand to cover it for you…not for the chocolate and cocktails.

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Morning Reading List, 01.05.09

Patrick — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:56:07 +0000

Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

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Morning Reading List, 12.29.08

Patrick — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:53:38 +0000

Good morning, Washington. What DC museum is featured above? Think you know? Email us with your best guess. AND: Join us after the jump to find out if you guessed our last contest correctly.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

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Morning Reading List, 10.29.08

Patrick — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:04:05 +0000

Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

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Morning Reading List, 10.07.08

Patrick — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:16:16 +0000

Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

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Morning Reading List, 04.03.08

Patrick — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:55:05 +0000

Good morning Washington. Perez Hilton is a WHCA guest! And Donatella Versace, too! And it’s the birthday of Politico’s Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen’s Mom. Speaking of Jonathan Martin’s b-day, Mike Allen has this to say: “Without J-Mart, Politico readers would know a lot less and the campaign trail would have a lot fewer exclamations of ‘SOLID!’ and ‘SO GOOD!’ (Martin’s the last person we know who carries a checkbook in his back pocket.) No truth to the rumor that TAGG ROMNEY will jump out of the cake. But KEVIN MADDEN has a touching tribute: ‘Happy Birthday to Jonathan Martin — a guy who has Patrick O’Connor’s style, John Bresnahan’s charm, a face for radio and a brain that should be left for science.’”

Quickly navigate Morning Reading List:

Most of you cannot run three miles non-stop.

Today’s “Angry Journalist” rant of the day: “With the exception of the Wall Street Journal, most of today’s print mass media is biased crap, agenda-based sensationalism, mere entertainment. I do believe there is a market for solid journalism (objective and fact-based), but readers like myself have to look pretty hard to find it.”

Washington Post reports, “Leon Walczak, 61, a retired Washington bureau chief for Business Week and a writer and editor who specialized in national politics, died March 28 of pancreatic cancer at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.”

Also from The Washington Post, “Betty Miles James, 84, one of the first female reporters at the Washington Star, died March 18 of congestive heart failure at Ingleside at Rock Creek, a Northwest retirement community.”

REVOLVING DOOR

A tipster tells us that Martha Wright, director of design for the Washington Post’s Style section, recently quit to move to Chicago.

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NEWSPAPERS

“Democrats dominated election coverage by about a six-to-one margin over Republicans in a week when making headlines was not necessarily a good thing, according to a Project for Excellence in Journalism study of campaign coverage from March 24-30.”

Vanity Fair’s Michael Wolffe reports, “The Sulzberger family would never let go of The New York Times. Or would it? With the latest shareholder assault on the ‘invulnerable’ paper’s management — this one from a couple of upstart hedge fundsâ€”the author plays out the most likely (and unlikely) scenarios.”

Wonkette reports, “Mystical Pennsylvania Foodstuffs Confuse NYT Reporter”

Mad.co.uk reports, “The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp since December, is set to sell its US print edition in London, the first time the newspaper has been printed in Europe.” Romenesko has more.

Eric Boehlert says “Fact: The press tuned out Iraq.”

Joe O’Connell, a Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
reports, “What happens if the newspaper presses stop rolling? That’s the big question behind the documentary Stop the Presses: The American Newspaper in Peril, which has its world premiere today at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival.”

Slate’s Jack Shafer writes about the New York Times, “The paper’s design director defends its expanded summary pages.”

Bloomberg reports, “A U.S. Senate committee plans to vote April 24 on a measure to reverse federal rules that let companies such as Tribune Co. own a broadcast station and daily newspaper in the 20 largest markets.”

E&P’s Steve Outing writes, “I stopped getting the print edition of my local newspaper this month. Among my new-media expert colleagues, I’m behind the curve with that move; many gave up the print habit long ago. But compared to the general population, I’m still ahead of most folks. I admit, I feel a bit guilty about this. After all, I write for and offer advice to newspapers on an industry website.”

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A NBC release announced, “MSNBC ends March 2008 tied for #2 in primetime in the advertiser-friendly 25-54 demographic, the best monthly finish for MSNBC compared to CNN since May 2001. In primetime, there is a true three-way race in cable news, with only 66,000 viewers A25-54 separating first and second place. MSNBC also delivered its best-ever quarterly weekday primetime ratings in 1Q08 in total viewers, and best in the 25-54 demographic since 4Q01.”

An ABC release announced, “For the week of March 24-28, ‘ABC’s World News with Charles Gibson’ was the #1 evening newscast among Adults 25-54 and tied for first place among Total Viewers. The ABC broadcast averaged a 2.1/8 and 2.55 million among key demo viewers, outperforming NBC’s ‘Nightly News’ by 90,000. Among Total Viewers, ABC and NBC both averaged 8.41 million.”

The New York Times reports, “The historic and long-running presidential campaigns of Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton have injected issues of race and gender into politics as never before. With campaign coverage center stage on the cable channels, producers and critics are again assessing the diversity among pundits, who talk (and talk) about things like Mr. Obamaâ€™s pastor, the Hispanic vote, Iraq and the economy.”

Politico looks at the upcoming Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner.

TVNewser reports, “FNC was the fourth ranked cable network during the first quarter of 2008 (during prime time), despite not hosting a debate during the time period. CNN, who hosted four highly rated debates, finished #14 while MSNBC came in at #27.” And, “Fox News had the top five program in Total Viewers, and 15 out of the top 20, during the first quarter of 2008. The top CNN program was CNN Election Center at #6, while the top MSNBC program was Countdown with Keith Olbermann at #20. The O’Reilly Factor was the top program during the time period.”

“While CNBC continues to grow in Total Viewers, the A25-54 demo numbers continue to slide. For Q1 2008, CNBC was down in many “business day” hours (5amET-7pmET) year-to-year,” reports TVNewser.

“Headline News had one of its best quarters in five years in Total Viewers (today day). Also, Glenn Beck Tonight at 7pmET posted its best quarter ever in Total Viewers, while Nancy Grace’s 8pmET hour scored its best quarter ever in the A25-54 demo,” TVNewser also reports.

CBSNews.com reports, “CBS, reeling from disappointing earning in the last quarter has done some layoffs, at the corporate level, and separate from that, at some local O&O stations. On corporate level, TVNewser reports that CBS News has made cuts in to editorial, technical operations and the bureaus. The total cuts amount to 1 percent of the staff, the post says.”

TVNewser reports, “In the first quarter, Fox News Channel was the most-watched channel in all of cable news, winning both the today day and prime time categories in Total Viewers. This marks the 25th consecutive quarter in which FNC has won these categories.”

Also, “In addition to MSNBC tying for second in the A25-54 demo in prime time for the month of March, the network experienced a 63% year-to-year increase in weekday prime time, averaging 885,000 Total Viewers.”

And, “As TVNewser first reported Friday, CNN did in fact win the ad-friendly A25-54 demo in prime time for the first quarter.”

The Wall Street Journal reports, “Consumers appear to be turning down the volume on television purchases. As the largest specialty-electronics retailers get set to report year-end results, recent consumer surveys and comments from a TV supplier and from club stores point to slowing TV demand. The category has been among the few bright spots in big-ticket spending for the home as the economy has weakened.”

TVNewser’s Gail Shister asks, “Will Thrills Abound When Obama Plays Hardball?”

TVNewser has “5 Questions For… Hugh Downs”

A release announced, “From his riveting radio reports of World War II to his dramatic television showdown with Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Edward R. Murrow established the gold standard for American broadcast journalism. Celebrating the centennial of the legendary broadcaster’s birth, Murrow’s son Casey Murrow and former colleagues Richard C. Hottelet and Marvin Kalb will explore Murrow’s life and legacy at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 24, 2008, in GW’s Jack Morton Auditorium, located at 805 21st St., NW. The seminar will be moderated by Michael Freedman, GW vice president and professorial lecturer in journalism and former general manager of CBS Radio Network News.”

The Village Voice reports, “Supposedly Democrat-Friendly MSNBC Has Let a Clinton-Hating Joe Maul New York’s Senator”

TVNewser asks, “Do Cable’s Pundits Reflect Diversity of Presidential Race?”

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ONLINE MEDIA

Radar reports, “Former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown has more than her much-ballyhooed bio of Bill and Hillary Clinton coming down the pipeline: Radar has learned that the erstwhile ‘Queen of Buzz’ is partnering with InterActiveCorp honcho Barry Diller to launch her own news aggregator website. The site, Brown tells Radar, will have ‘no ideological stance’ and will be edited by Edward Felsenthal, the former deputy managing editor of the Wall Street Journal who is currently a consultant at Portfolio.”

A reader asks, “Have there been any talks of a website called Politics 2 or Politics II?”

The AFP reports, “They’re angry at their demanding editors. They’re angry about the mushrooming workload in shrinking newsrooms. They’re even angry about other angry journalists. But these angry journalists are happy they can now vent their frustrations to the rest of the world, courtesy of angryjournalist.com, a sort of online complaint board allowing ink-stained wretches to gripe anonymously. Ironically, their anger is partly fueled by the Internet, which has forced newspapers and television networks to reinvent themselves with painful consequences for their staffs.”

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MAGAZINES

The New York Observer’s Doree Shafrir writes, “‘There’s not one path anymore,’ David Hirshey, executive editor of HarperCollins and former longtime deputy editor of Esquire magazine, said the other day. ‘Thirty years ago, you worked at a newspaper, you moved to a magazine, and then you wrote books or screenplays. Today you can be a blogger who writes books or you can be a stripper who wins an Academy Award for Best Screenplay.’”

The New York Observer reports, “Interviews with editors of magazines like Wired, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Us Weekly and several others elicited more of the same:Magazines are not, for the most part, worried about the Internet.”

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RADIO

A release announced, “WAMU 88.5, America Abroad Media, and The American Interest magazine will present a special town hall entitled ‘Foreign Policy and the Presidential Election: America’s Image Problem’ at 7 p.m., Monday, April 7, at the Kay Spiritual Center on the campus of American University in northwest Washington, D.C. This event is free and open to the public.” For more, click here.

Matthew Felling is hosting the “The Kojo Nnamdi Show” today on DC’s National Public Radio affiliate WAMU 88.5 from 12-2pm EDT.

Slate’s Jack Shafer writes, “Rupert Murdoch addressed the students and faculty of Georgetown University this afternoon, explaining the ‘creative destruction’ wrought upon the news and entertainment industries by changing technology. Murdoch cast himself as a relentless competitor, which he is, who has taken on entrenched monopolies and oligopolies around the world, which is also true.”

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NEWS NOTES

BtoB reports, “Despite the slowing economy, mergers and acquisitions in the media and information industries kept up a fairly strong pace in the first quarter, according to a report released Tuesday by media investment bank Jordan, Edmiston Group.”

NPR’s On The Media reports, “The Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual State of the News Media report and the state of the news is strong.”

MarketWatch’s Jon Friedman is “Pondering the strange appeal of the Newseum”

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WEST WING REPORTAGE

Washington Post’s On The Plane reports, “The White House press charter that ferries journalists, presidential staff and Secret Service agents whenever the president travels has been grounded. The chartered jumbo jet is one of the 52 Boeing-777 aircraft that United Airlines ordered out of service today until it can inspect them for possible problems with the fire suppression systems in the cargo holds. The jet is currently here in Bucharest, where President Bush is attending a NATO summit that opens tonight.”

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JOBS

National Television Network is looking for a Director of Field Operations.

American Psychological Association is looking for a Marketing Manager, Journals Circulation.

AARP is looking for a Quality Associate.

The Hotline of National Journal Group is looking for a Staff Writer.

Northern Virginia Daily is looking for a Design editor.

Daily News-Record is looking for an Editorial Page Editor.

AOPA is looking for a Managing Editor.

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Hat Tips: DCRTV, TVNewser, IWantMedia, Romenesko, MediaBistro, JournalismJobs, JournalismNext

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Franken Launches BlogTalkRadio Show

Patrick — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:56:01 +0000

Former CNN Correspondent, Emmy Award winner and political columnist Bob Franken, launched a BlogTalkRadio show this week. Catch his introductory show on the Tuesday Primaries.

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Franken: “We All Know The Feeling Of A Free Fall”

Patrick — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:53:30 +0000

On today’s “Morning Joe,” former CNNer Bob Franken was a guest following a segment on Richard Branson’s recently free-fall publicity stunt.

Franken, perhaps referring to CNN’s abrupt decision to let him go, said, “We all know the feeling of a free fall.”

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SPJ Honors

Patrick — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:57:06 +0000

If you attended the Society of Professional Journalists 2007 Awards Dinner this week, you would have seen Mark Knoller, Terry Hunt, Muriel Dobbin and Bob Franken get inducted into the D.C. Journalism Hall of Fame. Reginald Stuart was honored for his Distinguished Service.

In addition, the winners of the Dateline Awards for Excellence In Local Journalism were announced (full list after the jump.

Even though the breakup between Franken and CNN was not completely harmonious, one reader points out that CNN did buy a table for the event, “proof there IS such a thing as an amicable divorce.”

continued…

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Morning Reading List, 06.14.07

Patrick — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 08:56:52 +0000

Good morning Washington.

You have lofty hopes for your summer reading list.

Eric Boehlert points out “a whopping error” by the Washington Post’s Andrew Ferguson in his column about Al Gore’s new book, The Assault on Reason.

Slate is “taking the Gonzo-Meter down to zero.”

“Matthews’ Son Debuts Video on His Dad’s Diabetes”

TVNewser reports, “ABC Apologizes For Barry Video Mistake”

C-SPAN announced that Zach Chastain, Bryan Cink, and Ryan Kelly, “the grand prize winners in C-SPAN’s national ‘StudentCam’ competition, will have the television debut of their documentary ‘Jupiter or Bust: The El Sol Solution’” during Friday’s ‘Washington Journal’ at 9 a.m.

DC Style is launching a new text messaging service with “the latest social/fashion/nightlife information.” It was launched June 1 in Philadelphia and is coming to DC in July.

TVWeek reports, “Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd of marketers, branders and media executives from around the country, former President Bill Clinton challenged the press to ‘render complex messages to audiences without turning them into two-dimensional cartoons’ as the next election approaches. That challenge was issued to Promax/BDA attendees at the Hilton New York on Wednesday as the former president delivered the gathering’s keynote address.”

David Adler, C.E.O. and founder of BizBash Media, announced “that the company continues with its national expansion strategy by launching its sixth market with the debut of its Washington, D.C., web site.

The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation of the Society of Professional Journalists is accepting applications for the Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing.

Daryn Kagan’s new book, “What’s Possible! Creating Possibilities Beyond Life’s 5 Biggest Obstacles,” is going to be released in May ’08, to Lisa Berkowitz at Meredith Books, a division of the Meredith Corporation. The book “will feature original stories and reports about people whose experiences and challenges have inspired and affected change in the world.”

From Media Matters: “Ignoring Libby’s early obstruction, Broder attacked Fitzgerald for ‘relentlessly’ pursuing Libby.”

E&P reports that The Wall Street Journal “announced major changes in its editorial structure ‘that is aimed at better positioning the Journal to benefit from the profound changes sweeping the news business,’ it said in a release.”

“Politico is conducting an independent staw poll, administered by Stan Greenberg, at the Campaign for America’s Future’s ‘Take Back America’ conference next week.”

Former CNNer Bob Franken has become one of the Hill newspaper’s “Pundit Bloggers” and you can check out his website.

“CAIR Accuses Washington Times of ‘Agenda-Driven Reporting’”

Check out Poynter Online’s special series focused on radio writing.

Variety reports, “In his bid to win approval of the merger of radio satcasters Sirius and XM, Sirius topper Mel Karmazin has proposed several possible pricing structures for the combined company in his informal talks with the Federal Communications Commission.”

Washington Times’ Christina Bellantoni has moved off the Hill beat to cover White House ’08 full time.

“A new study out from the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda measures just how candid media are about what they do and how they do it.”

The New York Observer has the details on “Josh Marshall’s Optimistic Leap to Web TV”

Jobs

American Society of Landscape Architects is looking for a Manager, Professional Practice Programs.

Children’s National Medical Center is looking for a Interactive Communications Specialist.

Hat Tips: DCRTV, TVNewser, IWantMedia, Romenesko, MediaBistro, JournalismJobs, JournalismNext

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Franken Honored

Patrick — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:05:01 +0000

A reader points out that Bob Franken, who was let go by CNN a month ago, will be inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists tonight at the NPC.

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CNN & Bob Franken Parting Ways

Patrick — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:43:00 +0000

FishbowlDC has learned that CNN has not renewed the contract of National Correspondent Bob Franken, who has been part of some big stories (Monica, Whitewater, etc.). Sources tell FishbowlDC that many CNN staffers are upset at his departure.

No word yet on Franken’s next move…

(Photo Credit)

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