Primary Time: Some Cablers "Already Bored With The Race"
Howard Kurtz was watching TV tonight: "Fox and MSNBC, apparently, are already bored with the race. Rather than go wall-to-wall, Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann did varied programs, O'Reilly starting with a segment on his own "no spin" approach to the campaign." Also: "Kerry's failure to sprinkle his victory speech with some "new" news hurt him in the cable coverage. CNN broke away early, MSNBC a few minutes later, and Fox didn't break into O'Reilly to carry it at all." 11:42:06 PM

Primary Time: CNN, MSNBC Live with Clark Drop-out; FOX Disappoints
The Clark drop-out news came late tonight, and seemed to catch the cablers off-guard. The AP first had the story just after 11pm. "Wesley Clark Abandons Presidential Campaign," the CNN lower-third said. MSNBC was also live with the news; FOX appeared to stick with taped programming (O'Reilly), but flashed the alert on the bottom of the screen. 11:30:21 PM

Primary Time: "The freight train is rolling down the tracks"
"It's starting to feel like the freight train is rolling down the tracks," Aaron Brown said tonight. Wesley Clark seemed to be the biggest loser. "The question is, what will he say? Will be stay or will he go?," Dan Lothian asked. Meanwhile, Greta led with the Carlie Brucia story for the entire A block, and didn't air Clark's speech... 10:26:30 PM

Primary Time: Media Notes
"We're going to try and take ideology out of the upcoming election coverage," Bill O'Reilly said on FOX // Judy Woodruff: "I think we could be facing the longest general election campaign in a long time" // Paul Begala previewed November: "It's going to be a toss-up election" // "Is it just me or is FOX News abandoning Bush?," a Free Republic post asks... 9:38:47 PM

Primary Time: Viewer Comments on Tonight's Coverage
Check out this DU quote: "Paula Zahn is stupid, Blitzer is an unshaved pig, Crowley is a witch, and Schneider is an eyebrowless moronic, senile guy." // "CNN is ahead of FOX...it looks like they're calling the NOVEMBER election for Kerry," a FReeper half-jokes. TVSpy points out that FOX aired O'Reilly's ranting rather than John Kerry's victory speech... 9:33:01 PM

Primary Time: Must Be A Fun Night For Cable Producers
"It is all a bit of a mess right now," Aaron Brown wrote in his newsletter tonight. "We know the top of the program will center on today's primaries. We'll turn that over to the election folks in Atlanta...for how long...beats me. It depends on how early things wrap up." From the Hardball daily briefing: "Chris will be doing hits on MSNBC throughout the night on Olberman & Scarborough Country...We may even have to break into Deborah Norville's show should one of the major candidates speak and the speech is deemed compelling enough for you to see...It's gonna be a long night." ('Even have to break into Deborah?' You're supposed to be a 24-hour news channel...) 8:11:38 PM

Primary Time: "Special Editions" of CNN Primetime Shows
CNN is offering "special editions" of its primetime lineup, and a one-hour wrap-up with Wolf Blitzer at 11pm (according to cnn.com). They offered a "next poll closing" clock on the right side of the screen during 360. "Anybody who wants to challenge John Kerry is the big loser," Joe Klein told Anderson Cooper. "We love to have a horse race...but it's hard to find one here. It's hard to see anybody who can successfully challenge this guy." Sigh -- if Jeff Greenfield uses that Democrats/firing squad analogy one more time... 8:09:23 PM

Primary Time: Are Projections Obsolete?
The cablers called Tennessee for Kerry at exactly 8:00:00pm. (God forbid they call it five seconds early.) "No word yet on who will come in second" in TN, Blitzer said. Supporters chanted "Kerry, Kerry, Kerry" during Carl Cameron and Kelly Wallace's live reports. Question for media critics this election season: Come 2008, will journalists still hold off on projections? Any person who cared knew the results this afternoon... 8:07:35 PM

Primary Time: Russert Declares The Race Is Over
Tim Russert decided the primary season was over tonight. "You're suggesting tonight, this isn't even a two-man race anymore," John Seigenthaler asked. "No, it's not...what's the rationale that any other candidate can make?" Russert said Clark now begins "a lot of soul-searching," and Edwards will stick in the race "to lay the groundwork for a 2008 [if the Democrats don't win this year]." 8:04:10 PM

Primary Time: Hardball Describes A "Down-home Southern Battle"
"Tonight, the battle goes on," MSNBC's announcer said as Hardball began at 7pm. They set the scene for the drama: John Kerry "leads the pack," with Howard Dean "hanging in." At the top, Chris said Kerry had won VA by a "sizeable margin." Craig Crawford: "I cannot wait to see how the also-rans spin away their loses"...Hardball will be live again at 11pm. 7:50:45 PM

Himmelfarb "nowhere near being a hard news producer"
Apparently folks at FOX weren't as shocked by the producer-penning-porn piece in this morning's Daily News. "Marvin Himmelfarb is nowhere near being a hard news producer -- he writes the tounge in cheek copy on the zipper outside and lighter news pieces that air on the weekend," one inside source laughed to CableNewser... 3:46:05 PM

So Much News, So Little Time
DCRTV Dave writes in: "It's 1:15 PM on Tuesday and the White House is conducting a press briefing on Bush's National Guard service. CNN and MSNBC are covering it live. Fox News ain't." You aren't suggesting...no, no, couldn't be. Heheh... FOX eventually took viewers to the briefing room -- guess they were hesitant to cut Linda's show short. By 1:40pm, a Bush re-election spokesperson was on FOX, as Rumsfeld met the press across the river on CNN. (FOX joined that one late, too...) 1:37:39 PM

FOX Producer Pens Rejected Jenna Jameson Porn Script
Quoting the NYND Rush & Molloy column: "Porn queen Jenna Jameson is seducing New York's media...Fox News producer Marvin Himmelfarb also became fascinated by the 29-year-old Jameson's art form while doing several stories on her. "He talked Jenna into letting him write a porn script," says our source. "It was rejected, if you can believe that." The FOX response: "We're looking into it ...this is obviously not something a Fox News Channel employee should be involved with." 1:34:19 PM

O'Reilly: "I was wrong" on WMD's
Bill O'Reilly appeared on Good Morning America this morning, and admitted he was wrong about WMD's in Iraq. Quoting Reuters: "'What do you want me to do, go over and kiss the camera?' asked O'Reilly, who had promised rival ABC last year he would publicly apologize if weapons were not found." More in this wire story... 1:28:17 PM

A Dramatic, Dynamic WH Press Briefing -- Dismissed by the Cablers
Was I the only viewer very frustrated at CNN and FOX for pulling out of the White House press briefing in mid-questioning? The WH journos were doing an impressive job demanding answers on Bush's National Guard service from Scott McClellan. It was a dramatic, dynamic play unfolding -- live news -- but the cablers determined commercials and teasers were more appropriate. It left me scrambling to turn my radio onto C-SPAN. (CNN dipped back in after a five minute break.) Update: FOX also returned to the briefing around 1:25. I wonder if Press Gaggle will find this humorous.. 1:20:07 PM

Three Sponsors for CNN's America Votes Coverage
CNN has announced that three national advertisers will help sponsor America Votes 2004 coverage. AT&T;, DaimlerChrysler, and Samsung Electronics will sponsor various segments and programs. Details at MediaPost. 12:29:37 PM

Quote of the day
In the Southwest Florida News-Press: "In the 1980's, a TV station news director advised his staff, "If it bleeds, it leads!" This directive to capture the audience's attention by using lurid and graphic material became the standard by which local newsrooms framed most of their nightly newscasts. But when national TV and cable networks embrace this motto in covering important events such as political campaigns, it borders on irresponsible. And that's what's been happening in the Democratic primaries so far this election year." 10:21:54 AM

CNNFan Poll: Is Wolf Blitzer #1?
CNNFan is running a poll: "Is Wolf Blitzer the right man for coverage of America Votes 2004?" So far, 81.4% of voters agree. 8.1% say he is lame. Cast your vote... 10:21:49 AM

JOURNO 101: How To Write A Lead
ABCNews.com's headline gets your attention: "Airliner Crashes Just Two Miles Shy of Airport, At Least 43 Dead." Two miles shy of the airport. A plane crash in a foreign country is a story that, sadly, runs all too often. So in this case, shouldn't that poignant, unusual fact be stressed to command the reader's attention? CNN doesn't mention it until the fifth paragraph. MSNBC includes it in the fourth. FOX's AP rip isn't even gramatically correct: "An Iranian airliner crashed on arriving at Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates," it says. Can't the powers that be write a story to grab our attention?... 10:08:52 AM

Who Has The Coolest Name in TV News?
A funny thread on "cool TV names" over at TVSpy: Suggestions include Flip Spiceland (remember him?), Wolf Blitzer, Uma Pemmaraju, Princell Hair... 10:08:17 AM

Kinsolver Disses Overholser
Les Kinsolving doesn't have anything nice to say about Geneva Overholser in this WorldNetDaily column today: "What wrath ensues when the liberal left sees even one part of television not adhering to the left-wing's marching, publishing and television marching orders," he writes... 10:07:38 AM

Behind the Scenes: Greta's Card Q&A;
Greta takes FOXNews.com readers behind the scenes of her Monday interview with Andy Card. "The interview was in the "studio" in the Old Executive Office Building. I think the term "studio" grossly over describes the space. Rather, it is one side of a room set up to have the appearance of a studio. There are two sets of book shelves, one behind the interviewer and the other behind the interviewee, and a fake fire place – I looked up the "chimney" to make sure it was false. The building is so old that it could easily have been a real one!" 10:07:07 AM

CNN Newsource's Weekly Planner
Ever watch your local TV news and wonder where those stories you see come from? Some of the feeds and live hits are thanks to CNN Newsource and similar services. As a preview of the week in news, I'm going to start posting the weekly planner CNN distributes to affiliates. (They won't mind, will they?) Behind the curtain... 12:42:27 AM

CNN's Misleading Headline Creates Criticisms
You've probably read about this CNN headline "spin." Instapundit has a great roundup of stories about it. Rantingprofs says it is, as best, "a staggering case of incompetence"... 12:34:51 AM