- The 10 Most Powerful In Television News.

- Jake Tapper introduces ABC’s “OTUS.”

- Plus: ABC’s new tagline “See the whole picture.”

- The NYT sells off 16 regional papers.

- Ha. Politifact names Democrats’ claim that GOP killed Medicare as their “Lie of the Year.”

PolitiFact debunked the Medicare charge in nine separate fact-checks rated False or Pants on Fire, most often in attacks leveled against Republican House members.

Now, PolitiFact has chosen the Democrats’ claim as the 2011 Lie of the Year.

It’s the third year in a row that a health care claim has won the dubious honor. In 2009, the winner was the Republicans’ charge that the Democrats’ health care plan included “death panels.” In 2010, it was that the plan was a “government takeover of health care.”

A complicated and wonky subject with life-or-death consequences, health care is fertile ground for falsehoods. The Democratic attack about “ending Medicare” was a pervasive line in 2011 that preyed on seniors’ worries about whether they could afford health care.

Even when explained accurately, the Republicans’ Medicare plan was not particularly popular with the public, nor with some independent health policy analysts. But the plan was distorted and attacked again and again.

(more…)

- Color television celebrated its 60th birthday yesterday.

- In a move sure to again infuriate progressives, CNN will partner with the Florida GOP in a debate set for after the first of the year.

- Some silly catfight over Nikki Finke.

- The media can’t stop obsessing over — no, not Fast and Furious or Solyndra — Chris Christie’s weight.

(more…)

This could be Soros Central, a.k.a. Media Matters HQ. Exposing Leftists presents students with a petition to sign asking their support in calling for various conservatives (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity) to be banned from the airwaves.

(more…)

From AFP:

Canada’s first right-wing 24-hour television news network was launched Monday promising to shake up Canadians’ views on politics and the day’s events.

But the Quebecor-owned Sun News Network assailed by critics as “Fox News North” continues to suffer from staffing slip-ups and still has not sorted out its distribution.

The specialty channel aims to “challenge the English Canadian TV news establishment,” Quebec media mogul Pierre Karl Peladeau said last year when he unveiled plans for the network.

“Far too many Canadians are tuning out completely or changing their dials to American all-news channels,” he said. “Quebecor sees an untapped market opportunity in English Canadian TV news.”

(more…)

Just released:

CNN Looks Ahead to 2012 Election Season

Cornell Belcher, Will Cain and Dana Loesch join Best Political Team on Television

CNN is gearing up for the election season with the addition of political contributors from across the ideological spectrum. Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher, conservative commentator Will Cain, and local Tea Party leader and radio talk show host Dana Loesch will appear across the network’s prime time programs, as well as other dayparts and platforms.

“CNN is increasingly the only network where political dialogue representing all points of views is actually helping Americans understand the political process,” said Cornell Belcher. “I’m honored to join and add my voice to the best political team on television.”

“I thrive on passionate, fun, and intellectually-challenging debates, and CNN seeks to be the home of those conversations,” said Will Cain. “So I’m excited to make CNN my home.”

“I’m excited to be working with CNN and am appreciative of their efforts to showcase diverse political thought on their airwaves, said Dana Loesch. “I look forward to the discussions.”

(more…)

A decline in viewership, too.

The president’s State of the Union Address drew 43 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That’s down 11% from his speech last year, and down 18% from his address in 2009.

The networks carrying the speech included ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, TEL, UNI, CNN, CNBC, Fox News, and MSNBC

Fox News was the most-watched of the cable news networks carrying the speech, averaging 5 million viewers. CNN was second with 3 million and MSNBC ranked third with 2.5 million.

(more…)

Like Al Gore invented the Internet.

Pretty astounding to see such a lack of effort to conceal the regurgitation of the President’s talking points. Remember when media existed to question The Man? No? Me either.

After 25 years on air, 60,000 interviews, Larry King signs off in what is an end of an era. I had the opportunity to be a guest on his show a handful of times this part year and King was always polite and gracious to guests, and often amused when they would fire up into crosstalk. His straightforward approach made him appealing to a wide range of guests, many of whom normally would eschew interviews in such a format.

Piers Morgan takes the time slot beginning after the first of the year.

There isn’t anything I love more than a little superfluous drama queen indignation with my morning coffee and bacon. New Republic writer Eliza Gray concludes that the reason you see so many women in second banana positions on television is because programming heads are sexist:

One Monday morning in November, according to the admittedly rough transcript provided by the Federal News Service, “Morning Joe,” anchor Joe Scarborough spoke 3,213 words; his co-anchor Mika Brzezinski spoke just 644. Most of her words seemed merely to remind the audience that she was still awake: Yeah. Okay. Yes. No. Maybe. Right. Terrific. Scarborough dominated the meaty segments; Brzezinski piped up mainly during the transitions.

[...]

But if Brzezinski is the true second pillar of the show, why is she so quiet? Maybe the better question is, why is Scarborough so loud? And why does MSNBC, supposedly leading the liberal charge against conservative cable news, stand for such a dispiriting and old-fashioned gender dynamic? Anyone for a little sexism with their morning joe?

Granted, Gray illustrates the history of news and the role that women journalists, anchors, have played in morning coverage. What she misses entirely, however, is the dynamic of broadcast news and the types of individuals attracted to the medium.

(more…)

Glenn Beck had some nice things to say about newly announced ABC President Ben Sherwood today describing him as “fair.” The Freedomist notes that the Ventura Tea Party includes Sherwood’s book on its reading list.

The announcement:

After an extensive search, award-winning journalist, bestselling author and Internet entrepreneur Ben Sherwood has been named the new President of ABC News, it was announced today by Anne Sweeney, co-chair, Disney Media Networks and President, Disney/ABC Television Group, to whom he will report. In this position, Mr. Sherwood will be responsible for all editorial and business aspects of the News Division, including all ABC News programs on the ABC Television Network, ABC News Radio, ABC News.com and ABC News NOW.

(more…)

Democratic Party front group Media Matters for America has published yet another attack on Republican Sarah Palin. This one a dishonest portrayal of media coverage of her recent slip of the tongue regarding the crisis on the Korean peninsula.

In a Thanksgiving Day message posted Nov. 25th on her Facebook page, Palin opened her post with a tongue in cheek send-up of President Barack Obama in which no fewer than ten of his verbal gaffes and misstatements were included and sourced.

My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that …

The point Palin was making was that though everyone occasionally goofs up — including the President, you might not remember hearing about his, “because for the most part the media didn’t consider them newsworthy,” Palin wrote.

Such is not the case when it comes to Palin who in the course of a radio interview with Glenn Beck, mistakenly referred to South Korea as North Korea, but then quickly corrected herself. Media Matters blogger Oliver Willis, writing at his personal blog, posted the audio clip of Palin’s slip. Willis is one of several liberal bloggers who met recently with President Obama at the White House.

(more…)

Oh, it’s the beginning of the holiday season so I am full of positive feelings and nice thoughts so it’s time to give credit where credit is due. Maybe I’m just full of turkey, but either way optimism is in the air.

Spending 30 years in local TV news has made me pretty cynical about the reporting. Much of what I have seen over the years has been documented here on BigJournalism and I have barely started getting into the silliness I have witnessed. The stories designed to scare women 18-54 into watching the next newscast and the foolish “investigations” into who might be stealing your recyclables from your curb before the refuse men get to it. Yes, the November ratings period just ended and local TV lost its mind once again. Not to fear, the February “book” is right around the corner.

Occasionally local TV news does a story that deserves recognition and when those moments happen they should be acknowledged. Jonathan Humbert of KLAS TV in Las Vegas uncovered  a “clean energy” bust in Nevada that cost taxpayers 8 million dollars. Stimulus dollars were used on the project and there were high hopes that wood chips would provide green energy, rehabilitate prisoners and – I’m guessing somewhere in there somebody professed that this project would help Save The Planet.

Of course, it did none of these things and this fraud could’ve/should’ve been spotted from the start.

(more…)

KATIE COURIC:  We’ve never been used this way before.  The White House called the other day and gave me a list of 2012 election night analysts acceptable to them.  I don’t like it.

BRIAN WILLIAMS:  Remember when it was collaborative?   Now, they don’t even trust us to spin anything correctly.   Zucker took away my Managing Editor title and assigned it to Chris Matthews.  And he reports to Gibbs.

DIANE SAWYER:  Wasn’t so long ago they rolled over in the morning and kissed us and said they still respected us.  Now, well.  I hate to say it, but the right is right: Obama’s an egocentric narcissist who doesn’t know he’s in over his head.

(more…)

Does anyone really watch MSNBC any more? Seriously, does their blindingly white line-up (which is only an issue because they make it so) of hysterical liberals with their cacophonous whining reverberating from the padded walls of their echo chamber appeal to anyone?

Fox trounced the cable competition with their election coverage:

Here is what the cable networks drew on average From 8-11 PM ET:

• FNC: 6.957 million total viewers, 2.43 million A25-54

• CNN: 2.423 million total viewers, 1.03 million A25-54

• MSNBC: 1.945 million total viewers, 669,000 A25-54

Mediate says Fox’s coverage as “balanced.”

(more…)

I cringed for this reporter while watching this since he obviously lacked the modesty to feel embarrassment for himself. The Ted Baxter of local Philly Fox 29 got the vapors while interviewing ACORN dismantler James O’Keefe; O’Keefe’s latest video shows teachers’ union leaders discussing how they helped rig elections and call black students the N word.

Instead of asking why on earth an educational professional is caught on tape admitting to voter fraud, Local 29’s Jeff Cole ignores the actual story so he can show off his “investigative” chops and stroke his blatant agenda. What you are about to witness is comedy gold.

(more…)

Newspapers and television stations reaped a financial windfall from the BP oil spill — and continue to benefit as the company spends millions on advertising to repair its battered image following the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

BP spent $93.4 million on ads between April 1 and July 31, according to Politico. That’s triple the amount from the same period one year ago. The information was included in a letter from House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Fla.) to Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.).

BP began its flurry of ads shortly after the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20 and has continued to target national and local outlets seven weeks after the well was capped. Newspapers and TV stations have been the biggest beneficiaries. (more…)

Trying to write eight-ten articles a day makes one something of a news junkie. Between 7 a.m. and 1 a.m., whole days are spent reading one of the 607 news feeds I have input into my feed reader, following up stories on the phone and maneuvering the TV remote between CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and when I can find it, even the BBC. Thanks to an agile thumb, at times I can follow the same story on all the networks at the same time.

Watching that mostly distorted coverage can drive a blogger crazy. And worse it makes one think really nasty things about the media. But no longer, no more negative thoughts.  I’ve had an epiphany. Now I feel nothing but sympathy for these reporters who used to be the object of my scorn. You see they can’t help themselves. The mainstream media is not biased, they have tiny brains. That’s why the tunnel vision.  These reporters are taught to categorize things into neat little boxes and do not have the capacity to think beyond those categories.

Take a look at the coverage of Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally.  The press could not comprehend that people would actually travel to Washington, D.C., and attend a rally that was about concepts such as Honor and Faith, so they had to put the event into their little Tea Party or Conservative box. Despite the fact that Beck has never been part of the Tea Party movement, or the host’s declaration that the rally would not be political, reporters still got all tied up in their underwear looking for a way to stuff the rally into the boxes they know: (more…)

“CBS, 60 Minutes — they built their careers on this. So, that’s the tradition I’m following in sort of a new age journalism.”

Careful, Mr O’Keefe ! Don’t go there! Nothing in the FBI affidavit even hints that you brushed with the type of swinishness and ethical squalor 60 Minutes was capable of, especially on April 16, 2000.

I’ll report. Y’all decide:

On April 16, 2000, viewers of CBS’ 60 Minutes saw Dan Rather interviewing Elian Gonzalez’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. America saw a bewildered and heartsick father simply pleading to be allowed to have his motherless son accompany him back to Cuba, his cherished homeland. How could anyone oppose this? How could simple decency and common sense possibly allow for anything else?

“Did you cry?” the pained and frowning Dan Rather asked the “bereaved” father during the 60 Minutes drama.“A father never runs out of tears,” Juan (actually, the voice of Juan’s drama school-trained translator) sniffled back to Dan. And the 60 Minutes prime-time audience could hardly contain their own sniffles.

Here’s what America didn’t see: (more…)