Media Audit

As we mentioned in this morning’s Ticker, the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night was filled with jokes. Here’s a clip from Jimmy Kimmel and coverage of President Obama’s bit. Separately and unsurprisingly, Keith Olbermann had something to say about a joke aimed in his direction. Olbermann took to Twitter.

MinOnline has a list of the top six monthlies for May, with Marie Claire on top.

Ryan Seacrest continues along his path to world domination with a deal that will put him on the Today show as well as NBC primetime news and the network’s entertainment specials. He’ll be cutting back on E!. TVNewser has the press release.

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Among yesterday’s tips for multitasking, we included a advice from a PR exec who was quoted in Marie Claire‘s recent @Work supplement. The supplement comes with your print subscription to the magazine (does anyone else still have one of these?), but here are some of the features available on the Web as well:

“The Formula for Success” – Professional profiles of three successful women — Lisa Randall, a theoretical physicist at Harvard; Meryl Poster, the president of TV production at The Weinstein Company; and Shawn Holley, a celebrity attorney who has repped O.J. Simpson and Lindsay Lohan, among others. Very cool.

“Baggage Check” – Four women who are frequent business travelers tell us about all the clothes, gadgets, and beauty products they pack. OK.

“Salma Inc” – A profile of actress, producer, Burger King spokesperson, and skincare line creator Salma Hayek. Kind of meh.

Much of the rest of the supplement is taken up with fashion and beauty spreads that may touch on working women issues but focus more on just straight fashion and beauty. There’s even a story about getting beauty treatments during your lunch break, which we find a little extra meh. A couple of our colleagues here quickly tossed the supplement aside, saying it’s not really about women @ work at all.

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The Pulitzer Prize winners were just announced (click that link for more info about the winning stories). Among them: Sara Ganim and members of the Harrisburg, PA Patriot-News staff for local reporting, The Huffington Post‘s David Wood for national reporting, and Jeffrey Gettleman of The New York Times for international reporting.

It looks like Good Morning America topped the Today show in viewership last week, the first time in 16 years. The Today show will likely still win in the 18-to-54-year-old age category, and the margin could be as small as 13,000 viewers, but it’s a ratings win nonetheless. Official word comes on Thursday.

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Hearst is launching a YouTube channel on April 15, Hello Style, that will bring together content from five of its titles including Cosmopolitan and Seventeen. Teaser above. [via]

Current TV has filed a countersuit against Keith Olbermann claiming that he’s the one guilty of breach of contract. Filing available here.

The co-founders of YouTube are working on a new venture, Zeen, that will allow users to “discover and create beautiful magazines.” No further details about what exactly that means just yet.

Richard Huff is leaving the New York Daily News to handle PR for the CBS News programs 48 Hours Mystery and CBS Sunday Morning, and for CBS Productions and Primetime Specials. He joined the paper in 1993 and was promoted to TV editor in 2001. [via]

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It’s been in the works for several months, and now the CMO Council‘s first issue of the PeerSphere quarterly journal has arrived.

The new publication is available on the Web, via iPad and other tablets, in print, and on mobile devices, reaching 60,000 marketers around the world.

The inaugural issue features a roundtable of marketing leaders to share what they most love about marketing. It also delves in to topics such as geopolitical turbulence and the marketing consequence; MasterCard International’s strategy and approach to sponsoring the 2011 Rugby World Cup; an interview with the president of Safeway’s marketing division; and a profile of RAK Ceramics, a $1 billion emerging market success story.

The journal also has a host of global brands featured, including IBM, Yahoo!, and Saudi Telecom.

The issue is available here.

The trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO series Newsroom has been released and it’s got it all — an irate newsman, viral video, F-bombs, and McCoy from Law & Order. The show debuts June 24.

Katie Couric is the week-long guest host of Good Morning America. She got started this morning.

After building suspense over the “legend” that would be making an appearance today, Meredith Vieira made a special appearance on the TODAY show to announce that she’ll be joining the crew to broadcast from the London Olympics.

And more TODAY show surprises this morning when Matt Lauer made a call to Sarah Palin, who will be hosting the show tomorrow. Matt asked if she’s reading newspapers in preparation. Zing!

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James Murdoch has resigned from another corporate board. [via]

WNBC has cancelled New York Live née LX New York, effective this fall.

Variety is for sale again.

The Wall Street Journal is using Pinterest for quotes. [via]

Mashable asks why magazines look so bad on the latest iPad.

CNN has cut dozens in its documentary unit. And Bloomberg TV has cut 30 from its staff in order to focus on digital.

Click through for more media changes.

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Tablets continue to gain momentum as more consumers and magazine companies have embraced the devices. Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer, described tablets as “a new medium — not print, not Web, and not mobile. It’s a balancing act, where tablet’s goal is to perform like PCs but still fit in your hands.” He spoke at the MPA Digital: Swipe conference on Tuesday in New York.

Verna reported that tablet usage has grown from 4.2 percent of the total population in 2010 to 17.3 percent in 2012. While men represented the majority of users (53 percent) in Q3 2011, the gender gap has since narrowed. Still, he said top magazine publishers think it will take time for reader habits to substantially shift from other media options.

At the event, magazine executives and editors discussed what sets tablets apart.

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As we mentioned on the Ticker, CNN could be preparing for a $200 million purchase of Mashable. Reuters blogger Felix Salmon got the news from an “unnamed” source. The New York Times seconded the tip, saying there are “advanced talks” happening. TechCrunch adds that the move would vastly extend CNN’s reach. PR Daily points out that the reporting of rumors such as this show the turn that traditional media is making, which could ultimately have an impact on the way media pros do their jobs.

Following the premiere of the HBO film Game Change about the 2008 McCain/Palin campaign for the presidency, the media has been questioning elements of the story. You can check out photos from the event here.

Billboard magazine has lost a number of its top staffers including EIC Danyel Smith and publisher Lisa Ryan. TheWrap says cost-cutting and low morale are to blame for the high-level departures.

Janet Robinson, the former CEO of The New York Times, got a $24 million compensation package when she left the company. She’s now a member of Fleishman-Hillard‘s International Advisory Board.

ImpreMedia, publishers of La Opinión, El Diario, and other outlets for the Hispanic community, has announced that US Hispanic Media Inc has become the company’s controlling shareholder. Staff and editorial coverage will remain the same. US Hispanic Media Inc is a subsidiary of Argentina’s S.A. La Nación, publisher of La Nación.

The Boston Globe‘s Boston Globe Magazine has unveiled a redesign that focuses more attention on local coverage of events, nightlife, and relationship issues. [via]

NY1 newscaster Pat Kiernan spoke with FishbowlNY about his on-air test run as co-host of Live with Kelly Ripa.

Click through for more media moves.

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Jersey Shore‘s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino has started “an online social/pop culture experience that gives you all the latest and greatest in celebrity, entertainment, nightlife, fashion and Situation Nation news,” aptly called SitchNews.

Gawker notes some of the design similarities between their site and SitchNews (eerie!), but that’s probably where the parallels end. Story categories include “That Shit Cray,” “Sexting,” and “Tila Tequila.” And, after taking a quick look over the past couple of days, two posts getting a thumbs up icon designation are both “Official Situation” stories: the first about “Situation Abs” cream and the second about the fun time the reality star and e-commerce mogul is having in Australia.

Jenny Blue looks to be the primary writer for the site. Her title is “chief word cruncher” and her description is as follows: “i love pop culture and my spirit animal is a unicorn.”

Get your pitches ready!