Fox News Watch highlights
'Most Over-Reported Story' nominee: Laci Peterson. AU prof Jane Hall: "There's no way this has any justification of importance beyond salacious appeal and getting people to watch cable news as much as possible." Cal Thomas described MJ and Kobe coverage as a journalistic flu. "It's just obsession," he said. As for next year's big stories? Elections, war on terror, and...trials. "We're going to be in the courtroom an awful lot," host Eric Burns said. 6:57:10 PM

CNN's Top Notch Space Reporting
CNN's space reporting is excellent as always -- as a rover headed toward Mars today, Miles O'Brien's reports from the Jet Propulsion Lab in California have been fascinating. It's this sort of beat reporting that makes CNN stand out. Check out the video clips on cnn.com or AOL. Now how about a live one-hour special at 11pm as it lands? 6:41:48 PM

Framing a Story
A quick comparison of the online Red Sea charter jet crash coverage (much less coverage on TV...focus still on international flight security): Foxnews.com includes the fact that "Tony Blair [was] vacationing at popular resort at flight origin" on the home page. In the FOX and MSNBC stories (Associated Press copy/paste), the fact is prominent in the second paragraph. On CNN.com, that fact is only mentioned in the article's last paragraph. Makes a big difference, eh? 3:26:40 PM

A Few CNN Staffers Say So Long
"CNN has sent several staffers packing at its primetime shows hosted by Paula Zahn and Anderson Cooper," the New York Post reports. About six employees have been let go -- all former Connie Chung Tonight staffers, whose "services are no longer needed." 4:50:58 AM

Preview: Weekend Media Shows
6:30pm Saturday: Fox News Watch is an "awards show of sorts," looking back at the year in news and "the ignored stories of 2003." // 11:30am Sunday: Reliable Sources "looks at mad cow disease and terror alert coverage." (Foxnews.com/WashPost) 12:12:16 AM

Vicious Cycle
Eason Jordan's controversial op-ed last spring was the third most-blogged NYTimes article in 03. It's the subject of a long line of fresh messages at TV Spy, with some interesting comments, including: "[There is no scandal.] It's the Faux News PR Department with a lot of attack and destroy time on their hands." Read it. 5:40:40 PM

CNBC SOTU Schedule
CNBC announces State of the Union coverage: The News from 7 to 9, then the speech, with Capital Report at 10. FOX and MSNBC have started their "stay with us in January" political promos. 5:40:15 PM

"We gazed at the two incinerated Humvees"
Have we become immune to the attacks in Iraq? Does television sanitize it? An ElectronicIraq.net diary entry titled "First-hand news vs. CNN" makes an interesting point. "On CNN, according to Brig. Gen. Martin Dempsey...'An explosion near a U.S. military convoy in a crowded area of Baghdad wounded five U.S. soldiers and three Iraqi civil defense personnel.' The soldiers on the scene had gloomily told me, first hand, quite a different story while we gazed at the two incinerated Humvees in front of a nearby building with the side of it blasted into tatters." Just food for thought. 2:14:39 PM

FOX, Flights, and Fear
FOX is the most attached to this British Airways cancellation. (Call it fair war on terror reporting, or an attempt to keep viewers scared/watching.) They've been borrowing WTTG's Dulles live shot every few minutes. And they are the only cabler still screaming "HIGH" in orange on the side of the screen... 11:45:20 AM

The Cable (Business) News Wars
Jon Friedman profiles PBS's Nightly Business Report, and in doing so quotes several criticisms of CNBC and FOX. Lou Dobbs "reveals all the charm of a stern headmaster," he writes. And Dylan Ratigan's new 6pm 'Bullseye:' "It'll be interesting to see if Ratigan's in-your-face style works at the dinner hour over the long haul." (Thanks, Henry.)
11:30:24 AM

2003: Cable Net Ratings All Up
Another look at Variety's stats: In '03, FNC enjoyed a 53% increase in total-day viewing. Look at the target demo, adults 25 to 54: FNC with 609,000, CNN with 373,000, and MSNBC with 202,000. #'s increased across the board (war). Except for Headline News, that is -- down 4% with the younger viewers they crave. Then again, you'll hear soon enough why I believe these ratings are a joke... 11:03:15 AM

"Shouting bullshit at the screen"
Aaron Brown is a turn-off, a Buzzmachine commenter says. "I now find myself watching FoxNews more than I would have thought. I find myself shouting "BULLSHIT" at the screen more often, but it at least keeps [me] awake." I know several people who have expressed the same. I wonder how many more there are? (Are you listening, Mr. Walton?) 7:55:45 PM

FOX Fans' "Say What?!"
Looking for a laugh? Check out the "FOX Fan Exclusive" 2003 Rewound, especially the "Say What?!" video clips from FNC coverage. Notable moment: An Alert for Bush cabinet video, cut in midsentence to Wendell Goler. "Okay. Shut up," he says, then cut to Brigitte Quinn, who responds: "Okay, uh, Wendell, uh, just, ah, um." (Login: [email protected]; Password weblogs) 7:38:58 PM

MSNBC.com Year In Pics TV-Worthy
MSNBC.com's Flash "Year in Pictures" is compelling, to say the least. Apparently the TV side of the org was impressed -- they broadcast a portion of it on air this morning. Convergence! 7:38:48 PM

Why FOX Is #1?
Reese Schonfeld praises FNC's news coverage on December 25/26, while "...CNN and MSNBC weren’t ready to do news. They had prepared their ordinary Christmas day programming and most of their first-string anchors were off." He even suggests their coverage of the Karbala bombing could improve their market share. Makes you think about why they are winning the ratings war. 1pm New Years Day: FOX live in Baghdad, CNN in a Zahn tape, and MSNBC repeating Headliners. 1:25:50 PM

Inside Politics Expands to Sundays
Commercials on CNN this week: "Inside Politics Sunday" begins this weekend at 10am (advance of a 3pm Democratic debate; CNN and FNC live). Will apparently run through election year. 1:24:10 PM

2003: FNC #8 on Basic Cable
Daily Variety reports: "For the year, Fox News remained the only all-news outlet to crack the basic-cable top 10, moving to eighth from ninth a year ago." 1:32:25 AM

2004 Resolutions for the Cablers
The Arizona Republic offers resolutions for the news nets: "Fox News - To be fair and balanced. No, really...CNN - To remember that news used to be your real star...MSNBC - To find a show - any show - that someone - anyone - will watch." 1:31:04 AM

The Cable News Net of Record
Kudos to CNN for Anderson Cooper's 90 minutes live from Times Square, despite hiccups. Memorable: Cooper described Hugh Hefner as a 'true playa;' later, he turned around and said he heard Beyonce. Reporter Jason Carroll laid a kiss on the cheek of a random crowd member during one of those "who are going to kiss at midnight" segments. But hey, it beats a repeat of O'Reilly on FOX or a repeat Countdown on MS. Choice quote? Cooper teasing a live report: "What do you think's going on at the Playboy mansion? A game of Scrabble maybe?" 12:31:54 AM

9PM MSNBC 2004: Deborah Norville
Lisa De Moraes in the the Washington Post broke the story on C7 Wed: "Deborah Norville has been signed to host a weekday show in MSNBC's unclaimed 9 p.m. time slot." The announcement will come next week. Bruce Perlmutter producing -- not a stranger to notable female anchors -- Connie Chung Tonight and The Point w/Greta Van Susteren to his credit. TVWeek tidbit: "A source familiar with Ms. Norville's new deal said King World insisted that the MSNBC show look nothing like "Inside Edition," so her new format is not expected to include any of the packages that appear on other shows on the news network. Instead, it is expected to be built on interviews and talk." 12:29:37 AM

The Norville Hire: Net Thoughts
MSNBC's Sorenson has set his sights on second place, beating CNN in the ratings game, according to recent reports. "I don't want to go out on a limb, but I think CNN's hold on second place is safe," one blogger writes. Then again, with Larry King's penchant for half-dead celebrity interviews, perhaps there's a demographic hole there to be exploited. TV Spy Watercooler thoughts were mixed. "I have a feeling her new show will be well scripted," one member chimed in. (Send some of your own thoughts) 12:29:29 AM

Tonight's Terror Scare
And the scare tonight? A British Airways flight detained at Dulles Airport. CNN first reported the news at 10:34pm, with a report from Atlanta's newsreader on duty. They cut into a taped Newsnight focusing on the embedding experiment. Ten minutes later, FNC was reporting the news via an Alert on the bottom, with a taped On The Record boxed into a corner (subject: Playboy Turns 50). 12:07:06 AM

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In the Beginning...
Welcome. It's a midnight launch for CableNewser. The reason for the site's existence is detailed in the tagline (CNN, FOX, MSNBC, and why they matter); the purpose statement (below the big black title up top); and the gray bar on the right. And who's writing this? Above. 12:01:21 AM