“The Late Show with David Letterman” took on Fox News this week after the network ran story about Los Angeles police buying jetpacks that turned out to be a hoax. Yes, there is a Rick Sanchez joke too.
Of course, given that FNC is the number one news network by an enormous margin, it isn’t actually in any serious trouble. For that Letterman would have to look to another certain cable news network.
One of the questions we’ve been getting from a lot of TV news watchers this past week is: Will Rick Sanchez make a comeback?
He’s done it twice before: after a 1986 FBI investigation and a 1991 deadly DUI. And in an interview with us three weeks before his firing, he told us how a flame-out at MSNBC led to a return to national news at CNN.
ABC’s Ashleigh Banfield asked the former CNN anchor last night on “Nightline:”
Part I: Sanchez on his upbringing as a Cuban immigrant and his early years in TV News.
Part II: Sanchez on his short run at MSNBC and how was made to feel like he didn’t belong.
Part III: Sanchez on how he turned his CNN show into a two-way conversation.
Former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, who was fired last week for comments about Jon Stewart and higher ups at the network, made his first public appearance this morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“I screwed up George,” was how Sanchez responded to the first question from anchor George Stephanopoulos:
Sanchez also related a story about his upbringing in south Florida, which he discussed more in-depth with us in this Media Beat interview.
Update: Following his appearance on “GMA” this morning, Sanchez spoke with Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer.
Sanchez was blunt and apologetic, telling Krakauer that he found about his future with CNN the same way we did: when CNN released its statement.
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes appeared on “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on Fox News Channel this afternoon. Cavuto got Bewkes to open up about the departures of Rick Sanchez and Jon Klein, and the state of CNN and cable news more generally.
Cavuto: You mention CNN. Rick Sanchez, the fired anchor, moments ago issued a statement, an apology… would you hire him back?
Bewkes: He did a lot of good work on CNN and anything is possible. I wish him well. I think that he is a talented guy and he will have a lot of interest in different channels and, who knows, maybe some day the right place for him is at one of ours. I don’t think we should do that now and I am sure he would like to try something new as well.
Cavuto: Did you recommend firing him?
Bewkes: I was not involved in that decision.
Cavuto: At all?
Bewkes: I knew
Cavuto: Did you agree?
Bewkes: I did.
Cavuto: What happened with head of CNN/US? [Jon Klein] did you recommend he be fired?
Former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez has broken his silence, and released a statement apologizing for the “inartful” comments he made last week. Those comments ended up costing Sanchez his job.
Last week Sanchez called comedian Jon Stewart a “bigot,” and then said “a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart.”
In the statement Sanchez confirmed that he called Stewart to apologize, and added that he has “nothing but the highest regard for CNN and for my six wonderful years with them.”
His full statement is below.
On October 4th, I had a very good conversation with Jon Stewart, and I had the opportunity to apologize for my inartful comments from last week. I sincerely extend this apology to anyone else whom I may have offended.
In the final part of our Media Beat interview with Rick Sanchez, recorded three weeks before he was let go from CNN, Sanchez talks about the old way of anchoring TV news, and the new way — the way he’d been doing it on “Rick’s List,” at least until last Thursday.
Sanchez also talks about his social network of choice: Twitter, and how his wife is a fan of Facebook. In fact, on Monday of this week Suzanne Sanchez wrote on her Facebook wall that her husband had called Jon Stewart and apologized for what he said in that radio interview last week.
In the second part of our Media Beat interview with Rick Sanchez, recorded three weeks before he was dismissed from his job, Sanchez opens up about his anchoring style and about the unease from some corners of CNN when he got his first show there.
“At the very beginning,” says Sanchez, “There was a lot of concern at CNN about ‘what was I doing?’ and ‘why was I doing this?’”
He also says something that puts what happened last week into perspective: “I’m at a point in my career now where I’ve got a pretty good feel as to how to engage an audience,” says Sanchez who was fired Friday for controversial comments made during a radio interview Thursday.
On September 9th, we sat down with CNN anchor Rick Sanchez at our mediabistro studio to interview him for our Media Beat video series. At the time of the taping the plan was to run the interview the first week of October — this week. What we didn’t expect was for Rick to be dismissed from his job at CNN, which, as you probably know by now, happened late last week.
So, you know how Sanchez left CNN. But how did he get there? What is his TV news background? Here’s part one of our interview, in which he also talks about tonight’s premiere of “Parker Spitzer”:
CNN’s “Reliable Sources” discussed Rick Sanchez earlier today, with host Howard Kurtz recapping the events that led to his dismissal, followed by a panel discussion about the incident.
The discussion was frank, with one of the panelists saying Sanchez was a “joke,” another saying he was a “blowhard,” followed by a comment saying that Sanchez’s comments cost him any credibility he may have had:
“As an anchor his stock and trade is credibility, your credibility as an anchor depends on your neutrality, no one can watch that guy again and say, that is an objective newsman.”
Jon Stewart made his first comments about Rick Sanchez last night at a benefit in New York City. The Hollywood Reporter attended Comedy Central’s “Night Of Too Many Stars,” which was hosted by Stewart and benefits autism education programs.
In talking about how people should donate, Stewart said: “If you went on radio and said the Jews control the media…you may want to hold on to your money.” Later Stewart joked, “All he has to do is apologize to us, and we’ll hire him back.”
Sanchez was fired by CNN late Friday after he called Stewart a “bigot” and suggested the people who run CNN and “a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart.”
And last night, it wasn’t just Stewart talking about Sanchez.
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