Archives: March 2010

With the bleak Q1 2010 numbers put up by CNN, soon-to-not-be Politico’s Michael Calderone takes the pulse of nearly a dozen TV news anchors, analysts, professors and executives about what is going on CNN, and what can — or should — be done to right the ratings of “The most trusted name in news.”

Aaron Brown, who was replaced in 2005 by [Anderson] Cooper at 10 p.m., said that CNN doesn’t have the “big, broad personalities” that seem to excel these days in the evenings on cable news. Brown included himself in that group, along with Campbell Brown, John King, and Cooper.

“If I were at CNN, the thing that would scare me is not that we’re losing, but that it’s that re-runs are beating us,” Brown said. “At 10 p.m., a two-hour-old ‘Countdown’ is beating my guy, the guy I have invested millions in promotional dollars.”

Another former cable news host, Phil Donahue, who had a show on MSNBC in the early 2000′s hopes CNN does nothing. “At this moment, their competition is more entertaining than they are,” Donahue told Calderone. “And I admire them for holding on and not being seduced by that kind of arm-waving.”

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

25-54 demographic: (L +SD)

Total day: FNC: 407 | CNN: 132 | MSNBC: 141 | HLN: 148

Prime: FNC: 646 | CNN: 151 | MSNBC: 255 | HLN: 227

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	Beck:	Baier:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:	Greta:	O’Reilly:
	507	438	405	799	548	587	554
CNN	Blitzer:	Blitzer:	KingUSA:	Brown:	King:	Cooper:	Cooper:
	147	184	156	117	161	175	176
MSNBC	Matthews:	EdShow:	Matthews:	Olbermann:	Maddow:	Special:	Investigates:
	130	151	199	296	264	204	153
HLN	Showbiz:	Prime:	Issues:	Grace:	Behar:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	73	78	164	194	207	289	170

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

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CNBC’s Erin Burnett was hosting “Street Signs” today from Petra, Jordan, when a familiar face showed up on the broadcast. “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer spent passover in Israel and, while traveling through the region, “swung by” for a surprise hit. Vid after the jump.

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In the first quarter of 2010, “ABC World News” and “CBS Evening News” saw their lowest rated first quarters in Total Viewers since at least 1987, when Nielsen started using People Meters.

ABC averaged 8.27 million viewers in Q1 and CBS averaged 6.45 million viewers.

“NBC Nightly News,” which saw big ratings during the Vancouver Winter Olympics, averaged 9.92 million Total Viewers over the first quarter of 2010, the highest first quarter average for the network since 2005.

In the A25-54 demo, NBC averaged 3.01M viewers, ABC averaged 2.37M, CBS averaged 2.02M in Q1

After appearing on his show last night, HLN host Joy Behar grabbed Jay Leno and chatted him up in “The Tonight Show” greenroom. The topic: the late night fiasco. “Conan was treated terribly and I was treated terribly,” says Leno. Also, watch for the Joy Behar-does-Fred Armisen-does-Joy Behar moment.

Diane Sawyer talks with 11-year-old Erica in the Peabody award-winning ABC News documentary “A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains.”

The CBS News program “60 Minutes” and BBC World News America have each won two prestigious Peabody awards. In addition, the Diane Sawyer-reported “A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains,” is also being awarded a Peabody.

The “60 Minutes” awards both go to reports from correspondent Steve Kroft. “The Cost of Dying” about the cost of end-of-life medical care and “Sabotaging the System” about the scourge of cyber-threats and America’s readiness to defend against them.

BBC World News America will be presented an award for its “unique broadcast.” “A nightly newscast like none the United States has ever had,” write the Peabody organizers. Correspondent Lyse Doucet is also being awarded a Peabody for reporting from Afghanistan’s rugged Badakshan province.

Sawyer, whose Appalachia documentary “reminds us that not all critical problems lie in ‘developing’ nations,” write the organizers, also hosts this year’s awards ceremony on May 17.

Other non-news winners: “Glee,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and “Modern Family.”

Click continued to see the complete list of recipients. Also, an internal email from CBS News and Sports boss Sean McManus.


Diane Sawyer talks with 11-year-old Erica in the Peabody award-winning ABC News documentary “A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains.”

The CBS News program “60 Minutes” and BBC World News America have each won two prestigious Peabody awards. In addition, the Diane Sawyer-reported “A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains,” is also being awarded a Peabody.

The “60 Minutes” awards both go to reports from correspondent Steve Kroft. “The Cost of Dying” about the cost of end-of-life medical care and “Sabotaging the System” about the scourge of cyber-threats and America’s readiness to defend against them.

BBC World News America will be presented an award for its “unique broadcast.” “A nightly newscast like none the United States has ever had,” write the Peabody organizers. Correspondent Lyse Doucet is also being awarded a Peabody for reporting from Afghanistan’s rugged Badakshan province.

Sawyer, whose Appalachia documentary “reminds us that not all critical problems lie in ‘developing’ nations,” write the organizers, also hosts this year’s awards ceremony on May 17.

Other non-news winners: “Glee,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and “Modern Family.”

Click continued to see the complete list of recipients. Also, an internal email from CBS News and Sports boss Sean McManus.

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The Fox News anchor Tweeted a couple days ago:

Just wanted to let you all know I am officially on maternity leave.. Could be any day now and of course I’ll keep u all posted!

But she’s still Tweeting. Does Tweeting constitute working?

(h/t J$P)

Newsmax reports FNC’s Bill O’Reilly will pay the legal fees for the father of a fallen U.S. Marine who sued members of the Westboro Baptist Church who picketed his son’s funeral.

The church garners attention for its views by protesting high-profile funerals. On March 3, 2006, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder died in a non-combat related vehicle accident in Al Anbar province in Iraq.

During the wake that was held after his son’s funeral, family members turned on the television to view coverage of the massive procession involving over 1,500 persons. They saw the church members waving signs and protesting the funeral.

Last night on his show, O’Reilly said the mounting legal fees, are “an outrage.”

“I will pay Mr. Snyder’s obligation,” said O’Reilly. “I am not going to let this injustice stand.”

Next Thursday, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, along with a couple of her muppet friends, will plant a tree in Madison Square Park as part of the new PBS series “When Families Grieve.”

The program, which premieres April 14, is an extension of an outreach initiative providing free resources in support of families with young children, in the military and the general public, who are coping with the death of a parent.

Couric, who also participates in the PBS series, lost her husband Jay Monahan to cancer in 1998 when their daughters were just 6 and 2 years old.

Actor, rapper LL Cool J was listed as one of the guests on the premiere of Sarah Palin‘s Fox News series “Real American Stories.” But late last night, LL, aka James Todd Smith, Tweeted that Fox News is “misrepresenting” his appearance.

Fox lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palin’s Show. WOW

A Fox News spokesperson tells TVNewser, “Real American Stories features uplifting tales about overcoming adversity and we believe Mr. Smith’s interview fit that criteria. However, as it appears that Mr. Smith does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career.”

“Real American Stories” debuts tomorrow night at 10pmET.

> Earlier: Sarah Palin Series Debuts on Fox News

> More: Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer has more details…

> More, More: Hitfix reports Toby Keith was also unaware of his participation in the special…