Generalities

Reuters columnist Jack Shafer argues that the audience for cable news has peaked:

The consensus view put the onus on the Web: Now when big news breaks, the polled pundits agreed, the curious go to the Web (often via their mobile device) instead of cable news. Outside the Beltway‘s Doug Mataconis speculated that the potential audience for overtly liberal (MSNBC) and overtly conservative (Fox) TV news had maxed out.

Other possible reasons for the cable news slump is that the three channels (plus CNN’s subsidiary channel, HLN), approached maximum carriage on large cable systems years ago. Upwards of 90 percent of U.S. households already subscribe to cable or satellite TV, and most carry the news channels, so there are very few eyeballs out there that would like to tune in to CNN, Fox News and MSNBC but can’t.

As we have written about before, and as Shafer notes, the cable news channels spend an inordinate amount of time covering banal political maneuvers (despite Howard Kurtz‘s erroneous argument). Politics is an inherently difficult field of news to cover objectively, as, with the exception of journalists, essentially everyone interested in the day-to-day political coverage is already engaged and extremely biased.

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Former “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather continues to make the rounds to promote his new book Rather Outspoken. Last night he appeared on CNN’s “Erin Burnett Outfront,” where Burnett revealed that she had a crush on the newsman growing up, and that she would kiss the TV set at the end of the “CBS Evening News.” Rather was flattered:

Later that evening, Rather appeared on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” hosted by former CBS News staffer Andy Cohen. Rather, Cohen and singer John Mayer did a”shotski” of bourbon off of a ski (see photo below), and then Rather and Cohen reminisced about their time at CBS News. Cohen recalled that the one story he got to do with rather was a profile of an outspoken radio host named Don Imus:

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Today on “Anderson,” Anderson Cooper cut short his interview with “Human Barbie” Sarah Burge, a British mother who has reportedly spent $500,000 on plastic surgery and has been criticized for encouraging her young daughters to go under the knife as well. Cooper, who was outwardly disgusted with Burge’s responses to his questions, finally said the interview had to “just stop.”

“I try to be really polite to all my guests,” he said. “I just think you’re dreadful, and I honestly don’t want to talk to you anymore.” WATCH:

Today is the final day of The Cable Show, an industry gathering for cable TV networks, cable providers and other businesses in that arena. This year the event is being held up in Boston, and plenty of TV news personalities have made the train ride north. Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly made appearances at the News Corp. booth, while MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, CNN’s John King and Univision’s Maria Elena Salinas appeared on a panel to talk opinion versus news on cable. B&C’s Andrea Morabito has a great rundown of what happened:

Hardball host Chris Matthews argued that because of the rise of opinion-based news networks, the non-critical aspect of the media is gone, going as far to say that the reporting that verified the U.S. administration’s claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2002 would not happen today because of cable news.

“I would like to think there would be a reckoning we didn’t have then because of modern media,” Matthews said. “Twenty-four/seven is good because it’s not only breadth, it’s depth. Without cable, it is just network [television] thinking, embedded thinking, which is dangerous in a democracy.”

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There is a new nightly newsmagazine coming to TV, courtesy of Scripps. According to B&C’s Michael Malone, Scripps is launching two new programs that will debut in seven of the company’s 13 markets: a newsmagzine called “The List” and a current events game show called “Let’s Ask America.” Their distribution would likely expand if the shows perform well.

Scripps says both shows are consistent with its journalistic bent. With Jim Paratore as executive producer, Let’s Ask America features contestants who are linked digitally from their homes to answer questions that Scripps says “are weighted toward current events.” The show is produced by Telepictures and paraMedia inc and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. The format will be distributed internationally by Warner Bros. International Television Production.

The List is a nightly news magazine “at the intersection of news and pop culture,” says Scripps. “The show’s design is to entertain and pull back the curtain on the top-trending stories of the day delivered in the user-friendly and popular form of lists.”

The May broadcast sweeps period continued to take its toll on the cable ratings last week.

Fox News was the top cable news channel, placing 5th overall among ad-supported cable networks in both total day and primetime. FNC drew 1.75 million viewers in primetime and 1.03 million viewers in total day.

MSNBC placed 27th in primetime and 31st in total day, averaging 648,000 viewers and 382,000 viewers, respectively. CNN saw some of its worst ratings in a long, long time for the week (more on that tomorrow), placing 38th in primetime and 35th  in total day with 385,000 and 282,000 viewers, respectively.

Current TV placed last among Nielsen-rated ad-supported cable networks in both total day and primetime, drawing 22,000 and 24,000 viewers, respectively.

As for the business nets:

CNBC placed 54th in primetime and 58th in total day, drawing 170,000 and 130,000 viewers, respectively. FBN placed 91st in primetime and 84th in total day, drawing 38,000 and 50,000 viewers, respectively. Bloomberg TV, of course, hasn’t been rated by Nielsen since launching back in the mid-90′s.

The full cable network ranker is below.

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As TVNewser noted recently, this past weekend was a big one for college graduations, and with it, commencement speeches. At the University of Virginia, former NBC News and CBS news anchor Katie Couric was the speaker.

The Daily Progress has details about Couric’s visit, including a quip she made about the way she left the “CBS Evening News.”

“Some said I lacked ‘gravitas,’ which I’ve since decided is Latin for ‘testicles,’” she said.

Couric is currently working on her eponymous upcoming daytime talk show “Katie,” which launches on ABC O&Os and other stations in the Fall.

File this story under “weird.” Former CNN political director and CNN Headline News president Bob Furnad was busted by a local CBS affiliate in Atlanta placing dog poop in his neighbor’s mailbox. Apparently there was some sort of ongoing feud between Furnad and his neighbors, who caught him, er, brown-handed on surveillance footage.

WATCH:

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Former NBC News and CNN anchor Campbell Brown has been laying low for a while following her departure from CNN two years ago. Over the weekend however, she decided to return to the public eye to talk women and politics in an op-ed in the New York Times. Brown, who noted that she has “always admired” President Obama, nonetheless took him to task for the way his campaign has viewed women in this election cycle.

But the promise of his campaign four years ago has given way to something else — a failure to connect with tens of millions of Americans, many of them women, who feel economic opportunity is gone and are losing hope. In an effort to win them back, Mr. Obama is trying too hard. He’s employing a tone that can come across as grating and even condescending. He really ought to drop it. Most women don’t want to be patted on the head or treated as wards of the state. They simply want to be given a chance to succeed based on their talent and skills. To borrow a phrase from our president’s favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, they want “an open field and a fair chance.”

Read the entire piece here.

As we’ve been noting all week long, this week “Jeopardy!” hosted a “Power Players” week from Washington DC, with journalists, celebrities and DC insiders playing for their favorite charities.

What did you miss? Check out our recaps below.

Monday: Chris Matthews Fumbles, And Robert Gibbs Eeks Out A Win

Tuesday: CNBC’s David Faber Dominates

Wednesday: After Slow Start, FNC’s Chris Wallace Crushes The Competition

Thursday: Chuck Caps Clarence and the Comedian

Friday: Anderson Cooper Gets Animated, Wins For Charity