1. Make it public — but not too public: Whoever told Arnold Schwarzenegger that appearing on every interview show ever to talk about his affairs and his out-of-wedlock child while simultaneously hawking his new book was very wrong.

2. Be humble. Seriously: Jonah Lehrer didn’t get the message that being a public intellectual does not allow you to avoid taking the blame for your own failings by over-intellectualizing the whole thing and pontificating about the why and the how. “I need rules because I don’t trust myself to not be arrogant”? Come on, man.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The issue at hand isn’t the fact that Lance cheated, ruined honest people with fake libel charges, or promoted a bunch of big brands after winning while on dope. No, it’s all about his books, see?

The two plaintiffs in the class-action complaint say that they bought Lance’s inspirational memoirs because they believed his story about a triumphant, dope-and-cancer-free return to the Tour de France. Upon discovering that the story was not exactly true, they felt “duped, cheated and betrayed” and decided to take his sorry ass to court for fraud. The suit accuses Lance and his publishers, Penguin and Random House, of committing acts of “false advertising” by selling the books as works of non-fiction.

Excuse us while we enjoy a guilt-free laugh.

The most interesting part of this story (to us) is the fact that one of the men filing the suit is “Rob Stutzman, a public relations executive who served as a deputy chief of staff for former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger“. He would certainly know a good bit about famous liars, wouldn’t he?

So will this suit go nowhere like the one against Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson, who fabricated portions of his books? Or will it lead to a settlement like the case filed against admitted fabulist James Frey? And what do we think about the fact that a veteran PR professional started it?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We love Katie and all, but no one would call her a sports journalist–and we don’t feel like the scandal is quite big enough to justify a trip to Oprah-land (though the Te’o family apparently considered Oprah and Dr. Phil before settling for Couric). So how did she score this top interview? Well, the fact that the two parties share a publicist certainly didn’t hurt. That’s right–Matthew Hiltzik of Hiltzik Strategies (MediaBeat interview after the jump) now performs crisis comms/damage control duties for both Couric and Te’o, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Te’o chose Couric over both Oprah and ESPN.

Is this standard operating procedure? Or does it raise even more questions about the players involved in this sordid tale?

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

First, people were actually growing more sympathetic toward Lance before Oprah indulged him:

• Last October, 49% of Americans thought he should have to forfeit all his Tour de France medals.
• That number had dropped to 37% a couple of weeks ago.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Anyway, we know everyone and his brother will be posting reasoned op-eds today to debate Armstrong’s PR strategy and his chances at redemption, so we thought we’d take a different route:

Which questions were resolved in last night’s interview? And what were the answers? Let’s start with the most obvious:

• What is Lance Armstrong’s favorite reality show? Cheaters, duh.
• Who’s the bigger bully: Lance Armstrong or Nelson Muntz? Let’s see…Did Nelson ever sue anyone for libel? Didn’t think so.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good Afternoon America starts today at 2 p.m. ET. The clip above offers a sneak peek of what to expect. The show replaces a failed daytime talk show called The Revolution, which we’d never even heard of. Hosts are Lara Spencer and Josh Elliot.

Meanwhile, over on the Today show, Savannah Guthrie made her official debut as co-anchor. We’ve got her opening moments in the video below and TVNewser has additional footage of her first day.
continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Word on the street is Ann Curry is set to receive $10 million to vacate her post at Today. ICYMI, The New York Times published a professional profile of Curry and her time with the show. And over on TVSpy, they’ve conducted an informal poll and determined that Natalie Morales is the preferred replacement (among TVSpy readers).

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Montgomerys, stars of 'Welcome to Sweetie Pies'

The lone hit on Oprah‘s OWN network has been Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s, a reality show starring an African-American family that runs a soul food restaurant in Alabama St. Louis, MO. If you have the OWN channel and do a lot of channel surfing, it would seem that Sweetie Pie’s is on almost continuously.

The show debuted in October and has gained an average audience of 418,000 versus the usual 216,000 for the network. The Hollywood Reporter says that network execs will be taking that into consideration for future programming and advertising pitches. (Discovery Communications launched OWN.)

An S&P analyst, Tuna Amobi, tells the magazine this would be a change from the Oprah brand, which has been built on diversity. “I don’t know that it would be a good thing for OWN to so narrowly define its target,” she says. OWN president Erik Logan says they will be “nurturing” the success of the program rather than doing a 180. Other OWN programs include The Rosie Show, hosted by Rosie O’Donnell, and Our America with Lisa Ling. Discovery has funded the network with about $254 million.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ann Curry takes over from Meredith Vieira starting today on 'Today.'

The New York Times notes the high number of changes happening at broadcast shows, with big names like Meredith Vieira and Katie Couric coming and going. One CNN producer calls the shifts “seismic.” Of course, the challenge is — and will be for the foreseeable future — reaching audiences and building loyalty.

“We believe we have an opportunity to deliver content directly to consumers,” Disney CEO Bob Iger is quoted saying.

Speaking of the NYT, Business Insider reports that AOL actually has a larger newsroom that the Times. This takes into account the tremendous Patch local network.

After the jump, this week’s media highlights from mediabistro’s Revolving Door Newsletter.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

What a week for Gaga, eh? She’s seemingly been everywhere, even on the farm. And now she sits atop the Forbes Celebrity 100  list, pushing Queen Oprah to number two.

“Gaga is there not just because of the $90 million she earned with a monster tour, but also because of her 32 million Facebook fans and 10 million Twitter followers–aka Little Monsters–who helped move 1 million digital downloads of her recent single ‘Born This Way’ in only five days,” the magazine writes.

The magazine goes on to say that Oprah can take a social media lesson from Justin Bieber in the number three spot.

The rest of the list seems to go this way; a hodgepodge of people who are given credit or penalized for whatever level of social media notoriety they’ve been able to attain.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“The strategy seemed that of a soft opening, aimed at whetting viewers’ appetites so they regularly come back and sample the network’s expanding menu of new shows as they roll out,” says an AP story.

Among all of Oprah Winfrey’s triumphs, those with a long memory will recall a few flops, such as her ABC program The Big Give. After the jump, an MSNBC segment analyzes the power of the Oprah brand and what she stands to lose if the network doesn’t live up to the high standard that has been set for it. The clip says she’s “one of the most influential tastemakers in the world” while also quoting analysts who say her “entire brand is on the line.”

Still, the safe bet is on OWN’s success.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

USA Today pointed to her list of “Favorite Things” as “a marketer’s equivalent of heaven,” noting the “manic frenzy” she created by giving audience members VW Beetles last week.

Similarly, a recent Insider Monkey article ranked public companies whose products were endorsed. The article suggests the stocks as “ready to surge” because their items appeared on the show.

Here’s their countdown:

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

But given the upcoming October 1 release of the much-anticipated film The Social Network, the noise around the move seems to be less about goodwill and more about the donation as an image-enhancing play.

Technorati, which sees Facebook as having “kicked its public relations into high gear,” writes:

While the contribution is no doubt generous and badly needed, it’s timing is clearly suspect as little more than an expensive public relations stunt. It’s just enough to dominate headlines throughout the weekend, and maybe ensure that people at least enter the theater next week with one or two positive thoughts about the controversial young CEO.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.