"The Perfect Storm of Celebrity and Notoriety"
"Courthouse Chaos," the FOX banner screamed. Aaron Brown quoted Hunter Thompson: "When the goings get weird, the weird go pro." "It seriously looked like a bunch of ants going after a piece of cheese at a picnic," a TV Spyer remarked. Brown said that "the perfect storm of celebrity and notoriety...can obscure a lot" -- including the allegations themselves... 10:36:52 PM

Tracking the Election Express: Day Five
CNN's big bus pulled up in Davenport this morning, according to the bus driver. Judy Woodruff found a warmer climate indoors though, anchoring Inside Politics from CNN's temporary Des Moines studio. // "The nightmare for the campaign press corps is that this is all over by the end of January," one pundit says. "This is one bus you don't want to miss," a commercial said tonight. "The bus stops here." Clever, clever... 10:36:36 PM

Miller's Co-Host: Mugsy the Monkey
The lede on this story suggests Dennis Miller's talk show will be a must-watch: "CNBC's latest anchorman adores President Bush, despises most Democrats, will have a monkey for a co-host and warns his viewers not to trust him." A monkey? 10:29:55 PM

FAIR Accuses FOX of Unfair, Unbalanced Criticism
FAIR issues an action alert: "...Ask Fox News Channel why they didn't criticize [a NYPost column describing Dean as a Nazi], even though its hosts repeatedly condemned such analogies that same day--when they involved George W. Bush." 10:28:23 PM

Burns Poses Questions of Ethics & Objectivity
Eric Burns' FOXNews.com column this week comments on the new CNBC employee financial-conflict-of-interest policy. He makes one suggestion: "Perhaps ethics must begin with the individual rather than the corporation." 10:25:22 PM

! 1,935 Hours of "The News:" BW Signs Off
Brian Williams signed off tonight. He anchored "The News" for 7 years. For a long time, it was my favorite program. In some ways, it's still the best. Clips from the big stories were aired: TWA Flight 800, Olympic bombing, Princess Di, Monica Lewinsky, JFK Jr., Columbine, Y2K, the 2000 election, September 11, Columbia, War in Iraq, the Middle East, Hurricane Isabel. "I am only sorry that so much of what we have had to report is so sad and so tragic," Williams said. Closing remarks were top-notch. To the viewers: "Thanks for joining us for an hour each night." And to those behind the camera: "They are the best people I have ever worked with." Then he concluded: "So one last thank you. And one last goodnight." It gave me chills. 8:07:45 PM

NewsNight Receives NY Film Festival Award
From Aaron Brown's newsletter tonight: "We proudly note that NewsNight has received the prestigious World Medal in the New York Film Festival competition for coverage of the Un Qasr firefight back during the first days of the Iraq war. We may not win in the ratings every night, but this is confirmation of what we know, and many of you know as well. NewsNight is the best." 7:49:37 PM

Reality TV, Live from Neverland
Of the three networks, MSNBC was the most addicted to Michael Jackson's promotional effort today. "Jackson: Reality TV," the chryon read at 4pm. The entire first half hour of "Lester Holt Live" was dedicated to the "news." "It is not a stretch to say this could be the trial of the century," anchor Randy Meier said. On FOX, the banner called Jackson the "King of PR." "Is this Michael Jackson's way of orchestrating his own PR campaign?," Neil Cavuto asked. 4:14:31 PM

"This made camp OJ look like a picnic"
This blogger explains cable news's actions: "We shall speculate and cover nothing for the three hours preceding the very short proceeding. We will then cover nothing for the three hours following the very short proceeding." Rantingprofs: "Shame on every network that claims to be a 'news' network, but chooses to provide live coverage of Michael Jackson's arrival at some courthouse for some hearing or other." "This made camp OJ look like [a] picnic," a TV Spy poster adds. 3:26:45 PM

Wacko Jacko: The Coverage
The live shots outside the courthouse are stunning...I may not agree with its newsworthiness, but it's one hell of a spectacle, and it's making for great TV. FOX and MSNBC went nonstop at 11am. CNN started around 11:20. Chopper shots followed a caravan of SUV's...MSNBC stopped talking at one point and let the scene speak for itself..."Jackson is late for his arraignment," the CNN chyron read at 11:36. 12:00:47 PM

Covering the Caucus: Notes
On Imus this morning, Chris Matthews said the media is looking for a star, and won't have one until after Monday: "This campaign has gotten boring." // MSNBC embed Becky Diamond had a "unique campaign experience Thursday: John Kerry took the controls of his helicopter, and Diamond went along for the ride // A Japanese TV crew gave Iowa police a scare // This DMRegister story feels like a names and faces column... 11:31:36 AM

Quote of the day
"And does anyone have a rough count of the number of times CNN talent yesterday on the air intro'ed their talk off the Zogby numbers with caveat after caveat, only to go on and talk about them in full crack-for-the-weak mode," ABC's Note asks. "We lost count ourselves." 11:28:00 AM

Michael Jackson: Lead Story?
CNN and MSNBC treated it as the top story at 10am, while FOX went live to Iowa. CNN had two live reports, including one from a rooftop. "We've heard languages from all over this planet," Gary Tuchman told Daryn Kagan. FOX went to the story at 10:06, and showed helicopter shots of the scene. A protester nearly drowned out an MSNBC interview at 9am, shouting "leave Michael alone." But that's not likely to happen... 10:06:42 AM

"I have to get to work in two minutes"
Jon Friedman profiles the work of two journalists the day Saddam Hussein was captured: CNN's Dana Bash and Time magazine's Nancy Gibbs. Great piece... 8:59:47 AM

Ashleigh: "They've asked me to stay on while I negotiate"
Here's the scoop, from Dallas Morning News: "'They've asked me to stay on while I negotiate within the network,' says Ashleigh cagily when reached in New York on Thursday evening. 'I have had some of the best experiences of my life at NBC, but the last year has not been as fulfilling.'" The paper suggests several syndicated shows were showing interest in Ashleigh... 8:38:11 AM

CNN to Use Caucus Polls Responsibly
CNN political director Tom Hannon promises discretion on caucus tonight. "We'll be cautious in projecting too early, and in over-analyzing anything," he tells the Washington Times. Also: "There's a misapprehension on the part of the Iowa Democrats. We plan to use those polls to reflect issues or the voters, not project a winner." 8:28:31 AM

The Networks Beat Up Howard Dean
It's not cable, but I bet this trend would be found there too: "Howard Dean received significantly more negative criticism on network newscasts than the other Democratic presidential contenders, according to a study released Thursday." Coverage of Dean's foes was more than 75% positive, while more than half of stories on Dean were negative. Let's see how much attention this story gets today. (All these posts make me seem like a Dean supporter! I'm independent.) 12:07:23 AM

"Call it O.J. deja vu"
A preview of cable's top story later today: "The world press descended in full force Thursday on the normally quiet Santa Maria Valley, setting up mini TV studios with satellite dishes to beam news around the globe when pop star Michael Jackson is arraigned on child molestation charges." I won't bother adding a sarcastic comment about how we're at war. The AP and the WashPost preview the circus... 12:07:19 AM

Thank You
...For clicking onto this little (cyber)space. The counter rose above 10,000 yesterday. Much to my surprise, traffic has held steady the last two weeks. I've added some Google text ads on the right side, to encourage dreams of recouping site costs (and hours spent sitting in front of these monitors -- I've enjoyed it though). Now spread the word! Click up above, and stay tuned for extensive caucus coverage. 12:03:06 AM