President Obama’s second Oval Office address was carried on the four broadcast networks as well as the cable news networks tonight.

On NBC, Brian Williams anchored. On ABC Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos shared the set. Harry Smith anchored on CBS and Shepard Smith on FOX.

Following the address, FOX and CBS were first out, followed less than 30 seconds later by ABC and finally NBC. Williams had NBC News correspondent Richard Engel on set for a debrief. Engel reported live last week as the final combat convoy left Iraq.

Click continued for cable news notes…

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Bob Bradley re-signed as the United States men’s national soccer team manager on Monday. The announcement, which came as something of a surprise, helped vault the the coach into the top five of United States trending Twitter topics and into the world top 10.

The news caused outlets around the globe to pen stories. Google lists 560 articles about the decision and the image in this post shows there were more than 270 penned Monday afternoon, up from basically zero on Friday. The US national team, it appears, matters in America.

Google Trends, however, tell a different story. Details, pictures after the jump. Read more

There is no doubt that Twitter has changed the way many people communicate. One of the biggest benefits of the service is that it provides a direct link for fans and viewers to communicate with athletes and media executives.

For an athlete, Twitter is like a mini-media empire, giving you the ability to send your thoughts, photos and video directly to people that are (hopefully) interested in reading them, without the pesky middleman.

A perfect example is Chad Ochocinco, whose Twitter feed has become the go-to place for anything Ochocinco-related.

A recent addition to the athlete-Twitter metaverse is Miami Heat forward LeBron James. This afternoon, James showed just how personal a tweet can get, when he gave a nearly three minute long video tour of his son Bronny’s kindergarten classroom.

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Being a sports reporter ain’t what it used to be. Take Kelli Johnson, for example.

Tthe Redskins reporter for Comcast SportsNet in Washington DC interviewed a number of players and coaches on Friday, and the Washington Post‘s Dan Steinberg noticed something odd:

When Johnson interviewed Rex Grossman, she appeared to be just shorter than him, and when she interviewed DeAngelo Hall, she appeared to be just shorter than him… despite the fact that Grossman is three inches taller than Hall.

So what happened?

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25-54 demographic: (L +SD)

Total day: FNC: 370 | CNN: 131 | MSNBC: 141 | HLN: 114

Prime: FNC: 676 | CNN: 226 | MSNBC: 250 | HLN: 124

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	Beck:	Baier:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:	Greta:	O’Reilly:
	569	358	366	907	673	450	568
CNN	Blitzer:	Blitzer:	KingUSA:	RicksList:	King:	Cooper:	Cooper:
	123	145	119	234	215	229	220
MSNBC	Matthews:	EdShow:	Matthews:	Olbermann:	Maddow:	Olbermann:	Maddow:
	145	182	170	285	303	161	168
HLN	Showbiz:	Prime:	Issues:	Grace:	Behar:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	88	92	150	215	64	108	112

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

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NFL players lie to the media. That may not be a revelation, but it’s rare you hear someone come out and admit as much.

But that’s exactly the sentiment expressed by New York Giants center Shaun O’Hara in a story running in the USA Today.

“The one thing you kind of become programmed to as a player is don’t be honest with the media. Deal with them, but don’t get caught up in anything,” he said.

The article focuses on the difficulty guys have jumping from playing the sport to commentating but features some fascinating revelations from current and former gridiron stars. Read more

Fox News continued to crush its cable news competition in August, but the top-rated network was still hit by the Summer doldrums, with most of its programming down double digits compared to last year.

The August 2010 averages:

Total day (Mon-Sun): 1023k total/269K A25-54
Prime (Mon-Sun): 1821k total/441K A25-54

In total day, the network was down -16% in total viewers and -19% in the demo compared to last year. In primetime it was down -21% and -26%.

In the morning, “Fox & Friends” performed better than any of the other morning programs, and was down only -5% in total viewers and -4% in the demo.

In the afternoon, “Studio B” and “Your World,” were down single digits, while “Special Report with Bret Baier,” was down only -1% in total viewers, though it was down -17% in the demo.

Glenn Beck was down -12% in total viewers and -17% in the demo while “Fox Report” was down -11% in total viewers and -10% in the demo.

In primetime, all three shows were down double digits, with “The O’Reilly Factor” down -20% in total viewers and -26% in the demo, “Hannity” down -21% and -25% and “On the Record” down -17% and -24%.

All four cable nets saw decreases in viewership compared to last year, but MSNBC, particularly in the demo, saw the smallest — down -1% in total day and -5% in primetime. The network topped CNN in primetime in both total and demo viewers for the seventh straight month and also was #2 in the total day demo for the second month in a row, though the network still trails ratings leader Fox News significantly.

Total Day (Mon-Sun): 378k total/143k A25-54
Prime (Mon-Sun): 681k total/232k A25-54

“The Ed Show,” which had its best month in the demo since launch (625k total/176k demo), was the program with the second-most growth in all of cable news — behind HLN’s “Morning Express” — compared to last August, up +21% in total viewers and +14% in the demo. The show, which was behind CNN’s “Situation Room” last August, is now #2 behind FNC’s “Special Report” in both categories.

“Morning Joe” (363k total/108k demo) also posted total viewer growth, +7%, but was down in the demo -8%. The show was #2 in total viewers and narrowly edged out “American Morning” for #3 in the demo. The 5pm “Hardball” (500k total/139 demo) bested CNN’s “Situation Room” in the demo for the first time in 2+ years and was down the least from last summer compared to the other programs in that time slot.

“Countdown” (959k total/263k demo) and “Rachel Maddow” (825k total/230k demo) were handily in second place, though both programs were down -25% in the demo, roughly the same year-to-year percentage drops as Fox News’ programs at 8 and 9pm.

The weekend evening doc block is continuing to perform well in the demo for the network.

MSNBC release after the jump…

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So, because I’m a blogger, I’m in a coffeeshop. An hour ago, a friend emailed me: “The Bagh-man is about to try to break Clement’s serve. Tune in!” Translation: Marcos Baghdatis – the most exciting, charismatic tennis player no one has ever heard of – is in a battle. And there’s nothing better than a Baghdatis dogfight. Appointment viewing. But where? I have a prime seat by the window. I’m not giving that up.

Enter USOpen.org. Read more

If the August ratings are any indication, the new primetime lineup cannot come soon enough for CNN. Primetime viewership was at its lowest since May 2000, with 8 and 9 PM being hit especially hard.

The August 2010 averages:

Total day (Mon-Sun): 381k total/117K A25-54
Prime (Mon-Sun): 486k total/144K A25-54

Every CNN program was down double digits in the afternoon when compared to the same time periods last year, with the 6 and 7 PM hours being hit especially hard. “The Situation Room” was down -32% in total viewers and -28% in the demo at 6, while “John King USA” was down -43% and -41%.

The strongest performer was the afternoon edition of “Rick’s List,” which was down -28% and -32% in total viewers, and -15% and -17% in the demo.

In primetime, Larry King was down -50% in both total viewers and the demo compared to last year. This was King’s worst month in the demo since May, 2000 and in total viewers going back to at least 1991.

The primetime “Rick’s List” was down -41% in both total viewers and the demo, while “AC360″ was down -35% and -27% in total viewers and -34% and -25% in the demo at 10 and 11 PM.

The CNN press release is after the jump.

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