Television

The number of women working as both actresses in prime-time shows and writers and producers behind the scenes on those same shows fell in 2010-2011, a new study shows.

Just one in six writers on prime-time sitcoms, dramas, and reality TV shows were women, down from 29% in the 2009-10 season, according to the report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.

One in four producers, directors, writers, editors and directors were women, and 41% of all on-screen characters were female, down from 43 percent the year before.

Only one network, CW, featured 52 percent female characters, representing women “in accurate proportion to their representation in the U.S. population.” The other broadcast networks’ shows had between 36 % and 43% female characters.

The study is based on surveying one randomly selected episode from each prime-time show, which the authors say should “minimize” sampling bias.

A separate study from the same center found that only 42 of 2010′s top 250 films had any women writers working on them; 98 percent of those films had no female cinematographers, and more than three-fourths had no women editors.

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An Internet Advertising Board report has revealed that for the first time, Internet ad sales surpassed newspaper sales last year, according to Business Insider. Revenue totaled $26 billion, edging out $22.8 billion in the newspaper biz. That and more in yesterday’s news:

• Internet Advertising Is Bigger Than Newspaper Advertising (via Business Insider)
• Arianna Huffington Responds to Lawsuit (via FishbowlNY)
• Newsweek is coping after Harman’s death (via The New York Post)
• 401(k) Plans of Most Workers are Staying Steady, Survey Reveals (via The Epoch Times)
• HLN’s Brooke Anderson Named Co-Host of ‘The Insider’ (via TVNewser)

Jonathan Franzen writing about his buddy David Foster Wallace? Sounds like crack to a certain breed of contemporary-lit fanboy (i.e., me), which might be why The New Yorker picked just such a piece by Franzen to lure readers into “liking” the magazine on Facebook. Well, I like you anyway, New Yorker—you don’t have to seduce me with theatrics. But thanks for the freebie. That and more of yesterday’s news:

• The New Yorker Using Facebook to Attract Long-Form Fans (via PRNewser)
• Public broadcasting emerges largely unscathed in federal budget compromise (via Romenesko)
• Univision to Add Two New Channels (via The Wall Street Journal)
• FairWarning Names Assistant Editor (via Talking Biz News)
• Clonts is new Pioneer Press business editor; Iverson was layoff (via Braublog)

TV viewers may see a reunion of Katie Couric and Matt Lauer on a new daytime talk show, reports today’s Wall Street Journal. Citing unnamed sources, the Journal says Couric and Lauer have discussed the possibility as they both approach the end of their contracts with their respective employers. Couric’s CBS Evening News contract expires in early June; Lauer’s agreement to co-host NBC’s Today lapses at the end of next year. His co-host, Meredith Vieira, is likely to leave the show later this year, according to sources.

From the Journal article:

The stakes of losing both Mr. Lauer and Ms. Vieira are enormous for NBC. Losing two anchors in less than two years could upset the morning-news juggernaut, which is one of the few jewels at the NBC broadcast network. While NBC trails its competitors in the prime-time hours, “Today” has ranked No. 1 in mornings each week for more than 15 consecutive years.

Couric’s show could end up at CBS, NBCUniversal or even Time Warner Inc. Former Today producer and NBCUniversal exec Jeff Zucker is involved in talks about the possible Couric/Lauer reunion, according to the Journal’s source.

Good morning and happy Monday. The Washington Post sparked some conversation with the publication Saturday of an examination of the Post Co.’s Kaplan education division. The successful venture has helped support the Post during tough times but is now facing scrutiny as the practices of for-profit schools get a fresh look from Congress and the Department of Education. That and more news from over the weekend:

• The trials of Kaplan Higher Ed and the education of The Washington Post Co. (via The Washington Post)
• NABJ Pulls Out of Unity Coalition (via Richard Prince’s Journal-isms)
• CBS’s Jan Crawford Named Political Correspondent (via TVNewser)
• Wisconsin biz magazine closes after 21 years (via Talking Biz News)
• Former NBC News correspondent Jennifer London joins HDNet (via TVNewser)
• San Diego Union-Tribune Buys Local Lifestyle Site (via paidContent)

Just what the unemployed need: another reality show to watch while sobbing into their Cheerios.

This one may be useful though – in The Fairy Jobmother, career specialist Haley Taylor comes into jobless people’s lives and helps them turn their careers around. Or, as the release says, Taylor “assists severely job-challenged families with her no-nonsense and tough love tactics to motivate them to get back on the payroll.”

She’s British, so we’re thinking this will be kind of like “Supernanny” for grownups.

The first episode airs Oct. 28 on Lifetime. Enjoy!

CNN sounded like a tough place to work in its early years. Its creator, Ted Turner gave a few inside details of the news network’s struggles as it first began operations.

First of all, it took awhile for the company to become even close to profitable. “We sweated every payroll for seven years,” said Turner in remarks at the Social Good Summit, organized by the 92nd Street Y and Mashable.

But not only was there little money coming in the stress to succeed affected even the higher executives. “During my entrepreneurial career, I wore out four financial vice presidents — one had a heart attack right in my office,” said Turner, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I had him lay down on the couch, and we got an ambulance to take him to the hospital, and I said, ‘Get me a new financial vice president.’”

That’s rough, but at least he didn’t have to worry about online, social media, layoffs, paywalls and everything else media companies have to ponder. On second thought, maybe Turner just described the ‘good old days.’

ESPN has reversed its decision to allow college football reporter Jenn Brown to promote a brand of beer, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Brown had been hired by MillerCoors to promote Icehouse beer. The deal was approved by ESPN, but after the story appeared, ESPN changed its mind.

Last week, Dan Patrick, a radio sports talk host but formerly a SportsCenter anchor, said that when he was at ESPN he acted as a Coors spokesman; the deal had been approved by ESPN at the time. “But Patrick says now that he realized what he had done was a mistake,” writes the Journal Sentinel.

Another reason why the deal may have been deep-sixed is the issue of a college football reporter promoting beer. There’s enough controversy about promoting drinking to college kids to last a lifetime without reporters getting into the mix.

Leave it to a radio host to bash television, but that’s exactly what “This American Life” creator Ira Glass did during a discussion in Seattle, Washington.

Washington News Council John Hamer, in describing the event, wrote:

Describing broadcast journalists, he [Glass] said that they sound like “talking robots….the esthetics of the language is so stiff” He [Glass] called that “one of the reasons why journalism is having such a tough time now.” Television journalism is “doing terribly,” he [Glass] said.”

Glass went on to say that he enjoyed Rachel Maddow and John Stewart while calling Glenn Beck “fascinating.” But Glass also added that, “Opinion in all its forms is kicking the ass of journalism.”

Some interesting television remarks coming from one of the more well respected radio personalities.

(h/t Romenesko)

Starting sometime in the fall, Austin TV station KVUE is adding an hour of news programming—so it will start at 4:30 and run until 7.

The on-air team of Melissa Gale, Olga Campos and Albert Ramon will not change, KVUE’s president and general manager Patti Smith told the Austin American-Statesman.

But the station will hire a number of additional production staff to handle the extra work.

The start date for the expanded newscast will “depend on the hiring process,” so essentially, KVUE is counting on you. The jobs don’t appear to be posted yet but there’s an application you can download at this page.