Imbred: MSNBC.com Investigates Outcry Surrounding NBC News Report
MSNBC.com's Brock Meeks writes the lead: "Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is being asked to investigate allegations that the safety of thousands of air marshals and the public at large was compromised last month during the airing of an exclusive two-part series by NBC News that examined the federal air marshal program." NBC was allowed "unprecedented access to videotape little-known facets of the air marshal program." Interesting piece examining the actions of the site's own parent network... 11:23:03 PM

Are These Countdown Clocks Getting Out Of Hand?
An MSNBC MSN group poster notes that Hardball offered a new countdown clock tonight. "242 days until the election," it said. That's only seven months away... 7:54:44 PM

FOX Persuades Advertisers To Pay Up
The Hollywood Reporter reports that FOX "trotted out Brit Hume and Chris Wallace...to talk politics -- and plug Fox -- over lunch to ad buyers at New York's swank 21 restaurant" yesterday. It's part of an effort to sell the network as a valuable spot for advertisers. "It's a subjective sell. Fox's research includes a 'brand resonance' measure that ranks the network No. 1 among the three major news services in four emotional components: loyalty, attachment, community and engagement. Other research tries to convince advertisers that Fox is 'appointment TV,' as opposed to CNN, which gets more 'channel surfers.'" 7:54:26 PM

Why FOX Doesn't Win Awards
Greta explains why FOX didn't win any of the National Headliner Awards listed on this site yesterday: "You might think from reading those articles that we were determined not to be the best and hence no awards. I could not help but be amused by the suggestion. There is a very good reason FNC did not get any of these awards and won't in the near future. We don't apply for the awards and if you don't apply, you won't get any. Many awards in the media business require the news organizations to submit tapes to compete for the awards. When I first got to FNC I was told that we don't apply for awards." Fair enough. I wonder what MSNBC's excuse is, though, since NBC does apply... 7:45:55 PM

Wed. Ratings: Dennis Miller Hits Bottom
Drudge scoops some Wednesday night cable news ratings, and reveals that Dennis Miller has hit bottom. It's a 0.1 for the CNBC talker, who aired an "encore" last night. MSNBC's Olbermann barely did better, with a measly 0.2. And up from there: 0.3 for Norville and Scarborough, 0.4 for Hardball, 0.5 for Paula Zahn, 0.8 for Aaron Brown, 1.0 for Brit Hume, 1.1 for Greta, 1.3 for Shep and Larry, 1.6 for H&C;, and 2.1 for O'Reilly. 7:45:24 PM

Tina Brown on Ratings: "We can only go up"
A Mediabistro writer asked Tina Brown what she thought of her dismal ratings. "Your new weekly talk show on CNBC had an audience of 20,000 it's first night and 60,000 on its second. In television, those numbers mean no one watched it. Like, NO ONE." Her response: "CNBC hasn't had programming besides infomercials on Sunday nights before. We've gone up against Sex and the City and the Oscars. We can only go up." More on this blog. (Hat tip: Gawker) 7:41:59 PM

Inside the Brains of Hardball
It's all about the "editorial strings," the Hardball producer reveals in his e-mail today. "A couple of editorial strings we're gathering this morning concern the outrage by some over the new Bush ads," he writes. "...The other editorial thread we're pursuing are the culture wars: gay marriage, "The Passion of the Christ", religion and the Catholic church scandal." And you see the final product on TV... 1:47:29 PM

Mass E-mails "Annoyed The Hell" Out of Aaron Brown
Uh-oh. Media for Democracy sent 10,000 e-mails asking media execs to cover e-voting problems. When CNN did, the director e-mailed Aaron Brown to say thanks and "ask that he engage Media For Democracy members in a constructive dialogue on CNN standards for election coverage." Then Aaron replied: "No I will not. Further because this cut and paste campaign has annoyed the hell out of me for a week I won't even pay attention to what you guys want or say or think or do. There is no skill and no passion in cutting and pasting. It's just what lemmings do. I can't begin to tell you how offended I am by it all." Well, he was honest at least. 293 replies to a msg board thread about this so far... 10:40:05 AM

MSNBC is Embarrassing: Taped Norville Show Obsolete By Airtime
MSNBC failed again last night. Deborah Norville Tonight was all on tape. And around 9pm, as news of the Disney shakeup broke, Debbie was running a segment on the topic. Too bad it was completely out of date. They had a "Flash News" banner running with the details, but it was no match for the obsolete talking heads. "Once again MSNBC misses covering a story live since they are on video tape," an annoyed viewer writes. Rick, this is your opportunity. Please seize it... 10:34:38 AM

Lester Holt: 'Today?' 'Nightly News?'
A posting at TVSpy: "Lester Holt is filling in for Matt Lauer this morning. Gosh, it was nice to hear someone conduct an interview without jumping all over the guests answers for a change." With the reported problems at 'Today' lately, the poster suggests letting Katie Couric take over Jane Pauley's new daytime show, and making Pauley/Holt the new 'Today' tandem. (He suggests Natalie Morales for news anchor.) But one response suggests that Holt could shoot higher, and that he would be a better choice for the Nightly News chair than Brian Williams... 10:31:10 AM

Are the Broadcast Networks on Borrowed Time?
A note from Ed in London: "It is true that Bob Dole does a great job on CNN...stupid CBS should have realized his potential when he was on '60 Minutes.' Imagine if they had signed Dole & Clinton to be election night analysts...Instead, CBS, much like the other broadcast networks, isn't willing to take risks, doesn't see the writing on the wall and has squandered another opportunity. Cable is taking risks, cable is reaching out to unique, witty and insightful people to provide context. The broadcast networks better get their act together, or Election Night 2004 could be one of their last. Maybe Brokaw gets it and maybe that's why he's leaving?" 8:38:33 AM

CNN's "Slim Ratings Victory"
CNN's hometown paper trumpets the Super Tuesday ratings win. "CNN won a slim ratings victory on Super Tuesday against rival Fox News...Tuesday, CNN claimed an average of 1.17 million viewers during prime time. Fox attracted 1.14 million. Fox has won the other primary nights, though CNN has narrowed the usual ratings gap on those evenings." 8:08:04 AM

Union Techs Responsible for "CNN is Bad News" Poster
WP's Reliable Source explains the "CNN is Bad News" poster we mentioned Tuesday night. "It was a message from broadcast engineers and technicians who accuse the network of union-busting. 'We were very happy,' Jeff Miller, spokesman for the Communications Workers of America, told us yesterday...Clearly the techs knew how to position themselves to get into camera range. Said Miller: 'The money shot was the one where we got the sign right in front of John Kerry when he was standing there with his wife, with his arms upraised.'" 1:23:14 AM

Moody Explains FOX's Quick GA-for-Kerry Projection
The AJC story also examines FOX's early call of GA-for-Kerry: "Networks evaluate exit data in concert with actual vote samples. When [exec John] Moody checked off Georgia for Kerry just before 7 p.m., Fulton and DeKalb county samples had not arrived. But Moody, and Fox statistical analysts, were confident that the poll's margin of error had been overcome...'Our stomachs tightened a bit — but it always does,' Moody said Wednesday morning. 'Did I think about calling it back? No.'" 1:21:21 AM

Inside FOX's Control Room, Second-by-Second
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution takes readers inside FOX's control room on Super Tuesday: "The focus of the darkened control room is the dozens of monitors fixed on the front wall, where images from myriad sources flit past, like a scene from 'The Truman Show'...Time ticks on: 19:59:57 . . . 19:59:58. . . . 19:59:59. When the clock hits 8 p.m., coverage is at full speed. Hume goes on air, calling three more states for Kerry — Maryland, Massachusetts and Connecticut." Interesting piece... 1:20:31 AM