CNN's 3pmET anchor Rick Sanchez joined us this morning on the mediabistro.com Morning Media Menu podcast to talk Twitter and more. The anchor has more than 50,000 followers on the social media site, and incorporates Twitter, Facebook and MySpace into his unique afternoon hour.

"Twitter has allowed me to engage in a dialogue with viewers which creates better newscasts for me," he said. "The key here is creating a marriage between old media or mainstream media or whatever you want to call us, and new media."

And it appears to be working. From the time he took over the hour in September 2008 until now, the ratings have improved by 69% in Total Viewers and 61% in the A25-54 demo compared to the prior year. But in the A18-34 demo the hour is up 134%.

"I can't see how anyone who's forward thinking wouldn't look at our model...and say 'wow this is very likely the way things will move in the future,'" said Sanchez.

We also discuss how local news can make money again, Twittering at the White House and the political future of porn star Stormy Daniels.

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