Browse TVNewser March 2007 archives - TVNewser

Rita’s Going-Away Party

Brian — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 20:19:05 +0000

Rita Cosby‘s departure from MSNBC is being celebrated tonight “at Meatpacking District nightspot The Plumm,” Radar says. “According to the invite, DJ Doug Grayson will be spinning upstairs, while Kenny Summit will provide the tunes down below.”

the NY Post says Mickey Sherman, Lis Wiehl and “many more” are expected at the party…

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The Schieffer, Couric, Greenfield Trio

Brian — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 15:45:17 +0000

Following up on Jeff Greenfield‘s move to CBS, an e-mailer writes:

“Katie Couric is getting just what she deserves. Sandwiched between Greenfield and Bob Schieffer, they will literally TRY to carry her through the election year (IF she lasts that long) and poor Bob will probably be given his gold watch late in 08 and Jeff given Face the Nation.

It also makes the CBS team even more awkward looking with group of people who have no history or experience together and no leader to bring then together, ie. the three above plus Borger, Axelrod and [a few others] from ABC and CNN that they have picked up. It would be comical were it not so sad to think that this is the network of Cronkite, Sevareid, Wallace, Bradley and so many more and such great political teams, many of whom had worked together for decades…”

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Brian — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 15:20:32 +0000

The anonymous tips box is working again…

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29-Year NBC Vet Jim Cummins Retires

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:10:52 +0000

NBC News correspondent Jim Cummins is retiring today.

“He’s the definition of a field correspondent — he has covered every story more than once, and has been the central man in our Dallas bureau for as long as I can remember,” Brian Williams writes. “As I said on our inter-office conference call this morning, he has taught a slew of rookies around here, both in terms of direct mentoring and indirect osmosis. He has been a staple and unshakable presence on network television news, and we will always consider ourselves members of Jim’s home team.”

Cummins joined NBC in 1978. Here’s his bio…

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The Scoreboard: Thursday, March 29

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:02:53 +0000

25-54 demographic: (LS)

Total day: FNC: 263 | CNN: 169 | MSNBC: 106 | HLN: 111 | CNBC: 90

Prime: FNC: 452 | CNN: 219 | MSNBC: 151 | HLN: 166 | CNBC: 108


	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:

FNC	Gibson:	Hume:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	H&C:	Greta:	O’Reilly:
	214	337	348	575	475	307	406

CNN	Blitzer:	Dobbs:	Blitzer:	Dobbs:	King:	Cooper:	Cooper:
	142	245	199	238	240	179	151

MSNBC	Matthews:	Tucker:	Matthews:	Countdo.:	Scarbo.:	Countdo.:	Special:
	108	64	123	180	130	142	88

HLN	HLN:	Prime:	Beck:	Grace:	Beck:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	44/35	95	146	197	109	192	204

Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

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Rita Cosby’s Final Hour On MSNBC

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:30:43 +0000

Rita Cosby anchored her final newscast on MSNBC this afternoon.

“Cosby was given an ovation by the crew as she walked to the desk,” a tipster says.

She anchored the 2pm newscast with only a couple of on-air goodbyes. She didn’t bid adieu at the end of the hour.

Rita’s last day is officially March 31. Earlier, she explained why she’s leaving: “NBC replaced live programming with taped shows during some primetime slots, including mine. I then began discussions with the network about my future interests and expressed my desire to move on…”

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Rita Rewind

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:02:43 +0000

This is probably the photo that defines Rita Cosby‘s less-than-two-year tenure at MSNBC:

But it’s not the only one. Click continued for a photo montage of her MSNBC experiences…

continued…

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Jackson Denounces CBC/Fox Debates

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:48:16 +0000

The NY Sun puts it this way: “It’s not every day that Jesse Jackson denounces the Congressional Black Caucus, but today is such a day.”

It involves yesterday’s announcement of two Fox debates. Jackson says: “Why would presidential candidates, or an organization that is supposed to advocate for Black Americans, ever give a stamp of legitimacy to a network that continually marginalizes Black leaders and the Black community? FOX moderating a presidential debate on issues of importance to Black Americans is literally letting the Fox guard the henhouse — FOX should be rejected.”

The Caucus notes that Color of Change is launching a “demand the CBC drop Fox” campaign…

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Is CNN Considering A DC Move?

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:40:13 +0000

Is CNN contemplating a move from its First Street digs in DC, just blocks from Union Station and the Capitol? “CNN and a couple of law firms are sampling the wares in Southeast D.C. by taking tours of new office buildings cropping up around the new baseball stadium,” Washington Business Journal reports…

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Kurtz: CNN’s Greenfield Moving To CBS

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:45:13 +0000

Washington Post scoop: “Jeff Greenfield, a senior political analyst for” CNN “for nine years, has agreed to join CBS as the presidential campaign gears up.”

Howard Kurtz says Greenfield “has been concerned that the network has not used him more frequently, say those who know him.” He “was first approached by CBS News President Sean McManus early this year.”

More: “CNN made Greenfield an attractive offer but that he wanted to return to a broadcast network” and work with two executives fellow former ABCers Rick Kaplan and Paul Friedman…

> Bio: “Greenfield was a media critic for CBS News’ coverage of the 1980 Republican and Democratic national conventions and the 1980 presidential elections.”

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CBS Flexing Hard News Muscle?

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:42:46 +0000

A tipster wonders if NBC is going softer as CBS tries to get harder.

In an e-mail, they write: “While Katie Couric has spent two nights taking a hard look at cancer from every angle — including an interview with the president of Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center — Brian Williams had an in-studio interview with Sheryl Crow (who had also been on the morning programs) on Wednesday. And that was after part three of NBC’s series on marriage and ‘the state of our unions.’ What would have been the reaction if Couric had done that?”

> Update: 5:08pm: “CBS may have concentrated on cancer, but they still found time for Lara Logan’s tigers feature, Bill Whitaker’s story on childrenâ€™s TV ads and junk food and Katie Couric’s clips of Karl Rove acting silly. A couple of days does not a trend make,” Andrew Tyndall responds…

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FNC’s Interesting Poll Questions

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:17:17 +0000

An e-mailer notices that “Fox News asked some very curious questions in a poll released yesterday.”

It asked, “do you think a television network that is hosting a presidential debate can influence the outcome of that debate?” 65 percent said yes.

Then the poll questions got even more interesting. The e-mailer thinks “Fox is testing its own anti-Democratic Party and anti-MoveOn.org messaging,” adding: “Political operations do message testing like this, but I’ve never seen a news organization use (or need) the tactic.”

You decide; here’s the poll:

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FNC ‘Alerts’ Michael Jackson Gossip

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:09:53 +0000

On Thursday, The Big Story with John Gibson led with a Fox News Alert that Michael Jackson had been hospitalized in Las Vegas with pneumonia. Gibson repeatedly sourced Roger Friedman.

“The tip came from FOXNews.com and was put in the urgent FNC file,” a tipster says. “It turned out to be false.”

Most reports now say Jackson is a “little bit under the weather,” but not in the hospital. Friedman is now wording it as a question: “Does Michael Jackson have pneumonia? Does his back hurt? Or has he checked into a Las Vegas hospital just to get drugs?”

> Also: Half of Nancy Grace‘s show was dedicated to “reports” — unsourced — that Jackson had been hospitalized…

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RTCA Dinner: Myers Receives Barone Award

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:56:43 +0000

Brian Ross isn’t the only reporter being honored for investigative work:

NBC News’ senior investigative correspondent Lisa Myers was awarded the prestigious Joan Barone award at the RTCA dinner in DC on Wednesday.

“Myers was honored for reporting on ‘Trophy,’ a series of reports investigating an effort by the US Army to scuttle technology designed to protect soldiers from rocket-propelled grenades (RPG’s). The four stories aired on Nightly News with Brian Williams and triggered a Government Accountability Office investigation and prompted Congress to pass a law requiring the Secretary of Defense to assemble an independent, outside team of experts to examine all RPG-defense systems,” NBC says…

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How Dobbs’ Primetime Specials Rate

Brian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:50:25 +0000

Maybe CNN is grooming Lou Dobbs for 8pm. But he may not be the answer to their time slot problem.

Dobbs hosted three primetime specials this week. On Tuesday, he had 234,000 demo viewers and 847,000 total viewers, better than Paula Zahn‘s usual viewership.

On Wednesday, though, he had 193,000 demo viewers, losing some of Wolf Blitzer‘s lead-in, and just 579,000 total viewers…

> Also: “CNN cancelled its live in-studio audience broadcast of the ‘War on the Middle Class’ Thursday afternoon,” the GWU Daily Colonial notes…

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