PDB: The Play-By-Play
A comment thread at Daily Kos has the play-by-play as the PDB was released: FOX heaped the most attention on the document in the minutes before release. "CNN returns from commercial and keeps People in the News on, for probably the 10th time in 2 weeks, while the PDB is breaking," one person complains at 5:43pm. "Am I the only one disturbed that CNN hasn't got Aaron Brown or Wolf or someone in the studio analyzing this thing?," a 6:32pm post said. FOX rolled 'News Watch' toward the end of the 6pm hour. "David Gregory is going through this item by item on MSNBC," one person writes at 6:48pm. "At least they had the good sense to pre-empt National Geographic." 7:21:18 PM

PDB: Cori Compares Cabler Coverage
Rantingprofs seems disappointed with initial coverage of the PDB release: "But Fox's panel, allegedly on until the document is out, at which point they will read it, is so delighted with the sound of their own voices, they just keep jawing. MSNBC, this being a Saturday, has some news bunny on who can barely pronounce 'al Queda' much less do more than read the first paragraph out loud. CNN is proceeding with Iraq news. It isn't on the web yet. You have got to be kidding me." By 7pm, CNN.com and FOXNews.com had the transcript online. Apparently MSNBC.com is taking the day off... 7:20:59 PM

Steve Harrigan Gets A Haircut
...And he writes about it on his blog: "...There were several men cutting hair underneath trees in Islamabad. Our man's cousin was just across the street, also cutting hair. Our man's name was Shah-ram. He charged about fifty cents for a haircut. He was unmarried and took a bus about one hour each day to get to this tree in a park in Islamabad. He commuted to his tree. It was a blackberry tree." Simple dispatches like these help people understand and respect other cultures... 7:19:33 PM

What Happened To The Media-Hyped Killer Flu?
Robert Cox in The National Debate newsletter: "MSNBC ran a 15 second story reporting that this winter's Flu Season was 'normal.' The report also noted that there had been an unprecendented surge in demand for flu vaccine at the beginning of the Flu Season. Hmmmm. Perhaps that had something to do with the news organizations like MSNBC running wall-to-wall stories on death and destruction from what was dubbed the 'KILLER FLU.'" 2:21:59 PM

"Bad journalism and bad manners" at CNN
Tom Shales cites two examples of "bad journalism and bad manners" at CNN. "If CNN doesn't clean up its act, 'Chicken Noodle News' will be too kind a nickname," he says. "'White House News Bureau' would be more appropriate." 2:20:00 PM

Rice on the Record: FOX Beats CNN & MSNBC Combined
Stunning news: More people watched FOX than CNN during the Condi Rice hearing yesterday. Reuters reports the numbers: "Fox News drew an average of 1.921 million total viewers in the period from 9 a.m. to noon ET on Thursday, ahead of CNN's 1.228 million and MSNBC's 470,000." Yes, your addition is correct: FOX beat CNN+MSNBC combined. 5:10:59 PM

And The Award For Stupidest Question Goes To...
A funny moment on MSNBC today, as described by a TVSpy'er: "2:03pm eastern today... MSNBC anchor Allison Stewart mentioned the Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq. She asked the MSNBC military analyst if "the Japanese military" is going to mount a rescue mission. Even the MSNBC analyst was startled, and tried to explain that the Japanese are not equipped to conduct such a mission in Iraq...Another MSNBC classic." "Keep Stewart on entertainment stuff," another person says. "She's not credible as a news anchor." 5:07:35 PM

Imus Isn't On The List
Don Imus insulted Keith Olbermann (and other MSNBC anchors) on Thursday morning. Apparently the talent is getting together on Saturday the 17th for a promo shoot. "They’re all lucky they're employed!," Imus said. So Keith responded with a tape of Imus-bashing-MSNBC soundbites, then pointed out that Imus isn't on the list for the photo shoot. "Maybe they just want you to come over here and tell us some jokes while we're in makeup, or something," Olbermann said. The transcript is here... 5:01:46 PM

Lou Dobbs: "Man on a mission"
The AP profiles Lou Dobbs' "mission:" "Every weeknight for more than a year 'Lou Dobbs Tonight' on CNN has insistently covered — and condemned — sending American jobs to other countries, aka outsourcing or offshoring. At 24-hour cable news networks, both time and opinion are in abundant supply. But exhaustive reporting on a single issue is unusual, as is Dobbs’ strong blend of journalism and advocacy." MSNBC.com gives the story the full treatment... 4:05:13 PM

FOX's Baghdad Hotel Targeted, Again
The Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad -- where FOX News is headquartered, among other organizations -- was attacked again today. CNN says that "a projectile landed near a tennis court outside the Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad, but no casualties were reported." FOX showed video of slight damage on the scene. I'm running out of fingers to count the number of times the Sheraton has been targeted... 12:54:13 PM

It's A One Year Anniversary...
Let's watch today and see how many times the anchors point out that today is the one-year anniversary of the infamous Saddam statue fall. After all, that event fit into the media narrative so perfectly -- television helped declare the war "over." But was it just the beginning?... 12:49:55 PM

Last Day For 'Save MSNBC' Submissions!
Have you submitted your suggestions for Rick Kaplan? This is the last call for submissions. I will take them until 11pm tonight. A summary of your responses (there are hundreds of them) will be posted in a few days -- it takes time to read through them all!
Click here to help save MSNBC. 10:38:51 AM

More Random Advice For MSNBC
Naples Daily News columnist Dave Taylor offers advice for MSNBC: "MSNBC should use the talent of NBC more in its morning and daytime schedule, including Tom Brokaw, Tim Russert, Andrea Mitchell, Keith Olbermann and Brian Williams...[Dump the Headliners & Legends:] How can a news network run "filler" when there is a constant world of news unraveling before our very eyes?...The format of the news would be to just deliver the information, no hype, no sensationalism, no news alerts and very little graphics...The recipe sounds like CNN at its inception. It worked once. MSNBC has nothing to lose." Well, they have .2 to lose... 10:37:07 AM

Reminiscing: "Shark attacks in Chandra Levy"
Peter Johnson quotes a couple media critics in this morning's USA Today: "With the words 'breaking news' being used in connection with shark attacks and Chandra Levy on the cable outlets, pre-empting regularly scheduled programming is the only remaining way to emphasize the importance of a story," Matthew Felling of the Center for Media and Public Affairs said. When did Peter get that quote? Felling could have said that sentence in 2001. When you're dissing the media, at least reference their flavor of the month! 10:20:47 AM

Media Demands More M.J.: More Legal Moves
An update from the AP: "An attorney for news organizations asked an appeals court to immediately lift a gag order that bars those involved in the Michael Jackson child molestation case from speaking about it publicly." More... 10:20:34 AM

Shales: "CNN had the bad taste to keep its ticker going"
Tom Shales skewers CNN and FOX in a must-read WP C1 today. It deserves two posts, so here's #1 -- Tom takes the opportunity to diss the scroll: "CNN had the bad taste to keep its ticker going even when it turned to 'news' about health, so viewers saw Rice talking about 9/11 and the horrors of terrorism while below her there were items about the efficacy of Viagra and how 'iron therapy' can relieve the 'restless leg syndrome.' Even less forgivably, CNN used the space above the ticker to promote one CNN show after another, some of them two and three times." 12:23:29 AM

FOX's "Shocker;" Wacky David Asman
Tom Shales also offers some observations about FOX: "[They] pulled a shocker after the testimony by including a genuinely (or at least seemingly) bipartisan analyst among its contributors, veteran foreign affairs expert Richard Holbrooke." Shales also references Brit Hume's analysis: "When he concluded his remarks, Hume was thanked gushingly by wacky anchor David Asman. 'What a pleasure to have you, Brit!' Asman exclaimed, as if Hume were a visiting dignitary from a foreign country." 12:22:21 AM

Beating Up On Chris Matthews, Part Two
Mark, referring to this post, notes that Chris Matthews "replayed lengthy clips of the 9/11 widows from this afternoon. I laughed out loud when they got to the part where the one started on her litany of 'we know,' and then they cut off the clip in mid-sentence just before the part where she talks about Aschroft and Willie Brown." Some of the widow comments got repeated on the AP wire. Also: Professor Bainbridge says that Chris "misrepresented Rice's testimony"... 12:17:02 AM

Seven FOX Shows Out-Rate Larry 'King of Talk'
Exclusive: I bet the folks at FOX are pleased about Tuesday's cable news ratings. Larry King -- typically one of the top primetime shows, and CNN's only show that ever creeps above a .8 or so -- was beaten by seven FOX shows. Karen Hughes was his guest, and he still couldn't score more than a 1.1 (948,000 households / 1,132,000 viewers). Compare that to O'Reilly (2.0), H&C; (1.6), Shep (1.5), Brit (1.3), Greta (1.3), Gibson (1.2), and FOX & Friends (1.2). Daytime shows like F&F; and the Big Story have fewer households watching TV at a given moment, but they are still beating Larry. That can't possibly bode well for Mr. King... 7:51:41 PM

Tina Brown: On Religion, Terrorism, and Fashion
Tina Brown is discussing Religion in America on this week's Topic A. (A smart move by Amy and Julie: a press release previewing the show.) She will also talk to Ray Kelly and Steve Brill about defending America. And a Vogue fashion writer will talk about her new book, to cover all the bases. Will her ratings start inching higher? 7:50:34 PM

Quote of the day
Rantingprofs: "How do you know combat in Iraq is getting intense? Media outlets have brought back the deathwatch story. What, you ask, is the deathwatch story? Simple. Send reporters to stake out the main gate at a base that has deployed a large number of troops in a unit engaged in heavy fighting, and wait for something to go wrong...But while those reporters are waiting for something to go bad enough on the battlefield to do the, 'heavy casualties: with heavy hearts, a Marine community reacts' story, they have to do something. So they do the story, 'it's service members at war: with anxious hearts, a community waits' story." It's sad because it's true... 7:48:23 PM

Robin Meade Dominates Playboy Vote
(Never thought I'd write that headline on this site.) More than 16,000 viewers have voted in Playboy's sexiest newscaster contest. As of 8pm Thursday, Robin Meade is dominating with 36%; Rudi Bakhtiar comes in second with 21%; and Laurie Dhue is in third with 17%. The rest of the "contestants" are in single digits -- Paula Zahn has 7%, and Alison Stewart has 4%. 7:45:12 PM

Newsletters You Should Subscribe To
If you still don't receive Aaron Brown's newsletter, you are missing out on a great glimpse inside the newsmaking process: "I considered asking our bosses to let us do 90 minutes tonight instead of 60," he says today. "In the end, we made some cuts and trims and we'll bring it in on time." Here's the subscription page. (Other must-reads: MSNBC's Hardball and Countdown e-mails.) 6:03:31 PM

MSNBC: Hiring Producers, Bookers, Directors
A TVHeads post points out this job opening at MSNBC: "PRODUCERS (SENIOR, LINE, FIELD AND SEGMENT) and BOOKERS, MSNBC/NJ: seeking seasoned news professionals for future staff Dayside News openings. Email your resume to [email protected] or fax to 201-583-5819 (4/9)." And then there's all these Secaucus jobs on NBCjobs.com... 4:46:51 PM

An Open Letter To Chris Matthews
Mark writes an e-mail to [email protected], and copies it to CableNewser: "My jaw dropped when I saw one of the carefully-chosen 9/11 widows say on your broadcast this afternoon that "we know" that John Ashcroft and Willie Brown were warned not to fly on 9/11. My jaw hit the floor when you just sat there and didn't challenge any of this...The Chris Matthews I used to watch daily and admired greatly would never have allowed this kind of bilge to go unchallenged. But your personal blind spot on this issue has destroyed your news judgment." 4:45:15 PM

"We'll be back to Peterson," Cabler Says
An anonymous senior exec at one of the cable nets comments on the lack-of-Peterson-coverage story I linked this morning: "We'll be back to Peterson. There's just absolutely NOTHING going on right now. If/when the war simmers a bit and the trial starts, Peterson will be back in full force. Too many people, especially with Nielsen boxes, care about it." 12:43:33 PM

MSNBC: "The beginning of a long-overdue reorganization"?
"Daytime news managers Dave Levine and Steve Hyvonen were dismissed by MSNBC boss Rick Kaplan, in a move that many network insiders see as the beginning of a long-overdue reorganization," Newsblues says in a bombshell. "Their boss, Mark Effron, VP of daytime programming, is said to be in "delicate" ongoing negotiations to remain somewhere within the NBC organization, but will almost certainly leave his position at MSNBC soon." MSNBC denies that Effron has been removed... 12:40:21 PM

Rice on the Record
I was away from the TVs this morning. Sounds like I didn't miss too much though. Anybody have thoughts about the cabler coverage? Good? Bad? Stuck in between? Use the form on the top of the page to comment. 12:31:48 PM

Condi Follows In Dean, North, Thomas's Footsteps
Interesting lead previewing Condi's hearing in the Orlando Sentinel: "Like John Dean, Oliver North and Clarence Thomas before her, Condoleezza Rice is inspiring the broadcast networks to clear their daytime schedules." More... 8:06:00 AM

"Media stars give up on Peterson case"
That's the headline on this San Francisco Chronicle story: "What was anticipated to be a star-studded journalism affair has slowly turned into Just Another Trial, populated mostly by the same old faces from the local media. Since pretrial motions began at the Redwood City courthouse in February, there's been no Geraldo Rivera, no Greta van Susteren and no Dominick Dunne. (A few sort-of-familiar faces from CNN and MSNBC have shown up sporadically -- the celebrity journalism equivalents of free acts on the county fair concert schedule.)" 8:04:40 AM

Ted Turner Is A Star
CNN founder Ted Turner was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday. He called it "a great honor." Here's a wire story about it... 8:04:28 AM

Kerry's Interview Blitz
John Kerry isn't limited his media blitz to Neil Cavuto today. He will be appearing on Inside Politics at 3:30, according to a CNN press release. He is scheduled for an NBC interview to air on CNBC's 'News' at 8pm. But how much attention will he get in the midst of Iraq coverage and Condi countdown? 12:45:30 PM

Quote of the day
David Folkenflik quotes Bill O'Reilly's opinion of Air America: "Never in the history of the American press has one tiny enterprise gotten so much free publicity," Bill said on Monday. "The reason, of course, is that the elites want liberal bomb throwers to embarrass and defame people with whom they disagree. It's like hiring hit men and women." 12:43:20 PM

All Hell Breaks Loose: Reaction To My Rant
I received several complaints about my Iraq rant yesterday. I missed Studio B, when Shep covered the escalation all hour. Bret Baier first broke in with the story just before 3pm. One e-mailer praises Bret: "His sources were on the ground in Iraq, his reports were detailed, and his updates were often with clear and concise details through the 3 and 4 pm hours as events unfolded." CNN and MSNBC were very slow in responding.
//
"Do you want them next to the soldiers while they fight?,” one e-mailer asked me. Well yes, I do. That was embedding. Journalists should still be embedded. Their job is to report the news. They cannot do that effectively from a Baghdad rooftop. Are there security concerns? Absolutely. Security is on the minds of top executives at every network. But what news consumers need right now is information and context, and for a time yesterday we weren’t getting it. 12:06:46 PM

"Who Is Jesus?" On DVD
DCRTV Dave notes that FOX is selling its "Who is Jesus?" special on DVD. It is $19.95. He calls it the "Gospel according to Rupert;" I call it a good documentary... 12:01:27 PM

RSS Feeds From The Cablers
A reader writes in with a great question: "Can you explain why these news outfits don't offer RSS feeds of Breaking News?" No, I can't, but I wish they would. Question for techies out there: Is it possible to convert an e-mailbox into an RSS feed? I'll host the cablers' breaking news feeds... 9:09:21 AM

Tom Johnson Threatens 'Crazy Like A Fox' Author
Rush & Molloy say Ted Turner and Tom Johnson are "fuming" over "Crazy Like A Fox," a new book about the cable news wars. Johnson sounds serious: "Unless immediate corrective steps are negotiated to my satisfaction, you will leave me no choice but to file legal actions against your publisher and you personally," he told author Scott Collins. But Collins said the book is solidly sourced. Read all about it. (CableNewser's interview with the author is coming later this week...) 9:06:55 AM

Kerry Chats With Cavuto Today
Neil Cavuto will interview John Kerry today. "Among the topics to be discussed during this interview include: the U.S. employment rate; fiscal responsibility, and current spending by the Bush administration," a press release says. It will air on FOX at 4pm. 9:06:36 AM

What It's Like To Appear On MSNBC
A Stanford newspaper columnist appeared on MSNBC during the channel's spring break fixation, and writes about it this morning: "[Contessa] Brewer didn’t know what hit her," Mac Levine writes. "She had met her match. In those five short minutes, I caught the television bug. From what I hear, it’s more contagious than SARS." 9:05:13 AM

Countdown to Condi: Lots of Live Coverage Planned
Reuters says that the three broadcast networks plan live coverage of Condi Rice's 9/11 testimony on Thursday morning. Brokaw, Jennings, and Rather will be at their respective anchor desks. MSNBC plans live coverage beginning at 9am with Lester Holt; Chris Matthews will be playing Hardball at noon. (Here's the press release.) If you know what CNN and FOX are planning, e-mail me. (Big Rick has a guide to the cast of characters...) 10:46:05 PM

An Average Ratings Night
Drudge has some cable ratings for Monday, April 5. O'Reilly received only a 1.9 rating last night; H&C; and Shep tied for second with 1.4 each, and Brit had 1.3. Greta rounded out the FOX slate with a 0.9. Larry King also had a 0.9; Aaron Brown pulled a 0.7, and Paula Zahn saw a measly 0.4. Hardball beat her, with a 0.5; Olbermann had 0.3, while Miller, Norville, and Scarborough each had 0.2. 10:45:52 PM

The Anchor Responsibility: "One of those important nights"
Quoting Aaron Brown's newsletter: "As you can tell, this is one of those tough nights. The news is hardly uplifting. It is also one of those important nights where the program is tested." Do all news anchors think in that way? I hope so. It is an important night... 10:45:19 PM

All Hell Breaks Loose: And The Media's Caught Off Guard
The CNN lower-third tells me that "U.S. Marines move into Fallujah, under heavy fire." There are "reports" that coalition troops are under attack. Then why the hell are you airing Crossfire? Walter Rodgers was finally live from a rooftop at 5pm. Unacceptable. At 5:01 on FOX, Bret Baier reported "significant U.S. casualties" from an "extremely intense battle." Two minutes later, CNN's graphic said "Source: fewer than 12 coalition troops killed." Media organizations have been caught completely off guard, and they should be embarrassed. 5:03:58 PM

Quote of the day
CJR criticizes NBC's ad critiquing: "...Notice how NBC relied on two outside 'experts,' Jackson and Goldstein, to critique the ads, rather than simply doing it themselves. Call us crazy, but we thought it was the job of the news media itself to help viewers make sense of campaign rhetoric. By getting outsiders to do it for them, NBC distances itself from the criticism, suggesting the network isn't entirely comfortable with questioning the campaigns' veracity so flatly." 4:50:59 PM

FOX's Average Vs. CNN's Cume
NPR's 'On the Media' takes a look at FAIR's report on the FOX/CNN ratings game. Steve Rendall came on the show to talk about it: "I expect that Fox will surpass CNN at some point in cume, but that will not necessarily mean that they'll bring in more ad revenue, because Fox will still have a core viewership made up of those heavy viewers that are not as attractive to advertisers," he says. Here is the transcript. (Hat tip: Romenesko) 4:48:38 PM

Jeopardy: Ashleigh (Or Ari) Beat Aaron Brown
Wonkette has a source inside the Jeopardy media-types show taping: One episode was "Ari Fleischer against Ashleigh Banfield and Aaron Brown, and let's just say the always confident Aaron Brown was not happy with the final results. Tim Russert also lost his round. As for Ashleigh, the biggest loss for her was having to be introduced as "a television journalist'...Jeopardy's publicists told me NBC also nixed her right to be associated with the network for Celebrity Jeopardy." She hasn't been picked up by anyone yet?... 11:14:29 AM

Tina Brown Just Can't Rate
Tina Brown simply cannot find an audience for 'Topic A.' On Sunday night she scored a measly 0.2, with 154,000 households and 174,000 viewers tuning in. (I wonder how many of those viewers are in NYC?) Only 61,000 folks in the 25-54 bracket tuned in. Anderson Cooper was among Tina's guests -- apparently "proving that he can't get a rating on at least two cable networks," a cable news source says... 11:13:40 AM

"Greatest Indignity?:" O'Reilly Interviewing Hughes After King
Rush & Molloy have the scoop on "Fox's Hughes media sway:" "Did Bush buddies at Fox News pressure former White House counselor Karen Hughes to put Bill O'Reilly ahead of CNN's Larry King? King promised his audience on March 30 that Hughes would be his "special guest" the next night. Instead, the former communications director turned up on O'Reilly's show, not on King's. One source tells us that conservative cronies at Fox told Hughes...that it would be the greatest indignity for O'Reilly to follow King." A Hughes rep denies it. (Hat tip: Newsblues) 11:09:45 AM

The Booker Wars
An interesting story in the WSJ today: "Tyco juror Pete McEntegart was waiting in the 'green room' at CNN to be interviewed about the case. He thought the other two people in the room with him were CNN staffers. So he was shocked when they introduced themselves as being from ABC's 'Good Morning America' -- and asked him to commit to appearing on their show. "I was like, 'Is that illegal?' " Mr. McEntegart recalls thinking about the appearance of rival bookers inside CNN's studio." The story discusses the TV booking hunt... 11:04:14 AM

Remembering David Bloom
The site is draped in black today in a memorial to NBC News correspondent David Bloom. He died one year ago today, on April 6, 2003, in the deserts of Iraq. Share your memories of David using the form at the top of the page, or e-mail [email protected]. I will be posting messages throughout the day. Some pages to remember him by:
> His NBC biography
> MSNBC.com: "Remembering David Bloom"
> Alter: "Consummate pro with a human touch"
> BWOnline: "David Bloom's Last Ride"
> Reliable Sources: Remembering David Bloom
> Poynter: "Bloom's Colleagues Reflect on His Career, Legacy" 2:05:28 AM

1:55:00 AM

Dhue, Zahn, Bakhtiar, Stewart?: Searching for the Sexiest Newscaster
Playboy.com is searching for America's sexiest newscaster. Is it Rudi, Laurie, Robin, Paula, Alison, Linda, or one of the network women? Cast a vote in our wonderful democracy... 11:50:31 PM

Quote of the day, part two
I love this Kurtz quote about the Fallujah video from yesterday's Reliable Sources transcript: "Well, my sense was that cable TV, in particular, became particularly uncomfortable with this story on Wednesday, and by the afternoon, they broke away from Iraq and spent two hours covering the safe return of this missing Wisconsin teenager. We saw a couple of hours of dog walking around, searching for evidence. I think they thought that that was a happier story than the very disturbing news from Fallujah." 4:02:29 PM

Quote of the day
From the LA Times: "In elections past, the first question traveling reporters asked about the next night's hotel was a half-joking, 'Does it have a bar?' This season, the question is a dead-serious, 'Does it have high-speed Internet?'" There's also a couple great comments from Jay Rosen... 3:55:40 PM

Greta: Non-stop work on road trips
Greta describes life on the road: "As with all 'road trips,' we are working non-stop: traveling, working on the special and also doing the preparation for 'On the Record.' In between all that we will eat and sleep -- hopefully. The trip ends later in the week with my favorite: the red eye (which guarantees no sleep.) Yes, exhausting but still a great, great job." 3:47:44 PM

Does Dennis Miller Make You Laugh?
Dennis Miller offered some generic, typical, and generally not-funny jokes last week. An example: "The U.S. food giant Heinz tried to publicly distance itself from John Kerry this week. A spokesman said the company wants to make it clear that money from ketchup sales is not going toward the Democrat's presidential campaign, and the fact that Kerry's stand on any given political issue comes in 57 varieties is purely coincidental." Here's more "quotables," and his schedule for the next 2 weeks... 3:46:45 PM

Bill O'Reilly Feuding With G. Gordon Liddy
"Fox News Channel host Bill O'Reilly and nationally syndicated radio host G. Gordon Liddy are blasting each other in a mini-feud ignited by media libs Paul Begala and Al Franken," Newsmax says today. O'Reilly turns it into a talking points memo... 3:46:22 PM

Rick Needs Your Help: Let's Save MSNBC
We all know MSNBC needs some help. So what can the #3 news network do to improve its ratings? How should Rick Kaplan turn it around? Let's play cable news God. Submit a suggestion -- your opinion of how the channel should be improved.

I will take all the submissions, print them out, place them in a package, tie a bow around it, and mail it to 1 MSNBC Plaza. (They will be addressed to the new prez, of course.) The best suggestions will be featured on the site, as well.

Use the anonymous form below, or e-mail your idea to [email protected]. The submissions are completely confidential.

How would you save MSNBC?:

Type your suggestion here.

9:28:33 AM

Past Headline News Plans: Quiz Show and Puppets
TVWeek describes two old plans to liven up CNN Headline News primetime: "a quiz show and a topical puppet news show." The ideas are no more, but "the idea of creating programming that might help meet the goal of doubling the channel's prime-time audience is not. A CNN source said that what CNN Headline News Executive VP Rolando Santos is exploring now are projects that would have less entertainment quotient than, say, 'Larry King Live' and would fall more on the news side of the spectrum." Do I need to run a save HLN contest next?... 9:24:50 AM

What About Missing Men?
Tim Cuprisin admits: "Demographics play role in abduction coverage." He has a column in the Journal-Sentinel on the subject: "Even with the addition of a reported February attack, this story was as bizarre as any other missing person case. No more, no less. But it's part of TV news' continuing attempt to target a key demographic that hasn't traditionally been a consumer of news: women." USA Today also has a story about it... 8:54:04 AM

Carl Cameron: "FOX's Middle Man"
Howie Kurtz calls Carl Cameron "FOX's Middle Man." "There are always going to be critics of Fox who'll say it's too far right," Campaign Carl says, but argues that the image is outdated. He boasts about the times he has broken news about Democratic candidates, and Kurtz notes that Cameron also helped break the news of Bush's DWI. Here's the quote I love: "I know I'm supposed to say I've had enough of riding around on a bus, eating fast food and watching the candidate make the same speech over and over. But the truth of the matter is, I can't think of anyplace else I'd rather be." 12:53:41 AM

Covering Kobe: $20,000 A Day For NBC
AJR also describes the expenses the networks swallow to cover big-time trials: "For the preliminary hearing, NBC, which supplies MSNBC and CNBC as well as the traditional broadcast network, employed 24 people. Through peak periods of coverage, it is spending more than $20,000 per day to report on Bryant's legal travails, according to one source." It says the channel brought more than 2,000 feet of cable to Eagle... 12:52:57 AM

Covering Kobe: The Media Consortium
The April/May edition of the American Journalism Review describes the media's focus on trials, and has a couple notable clips. It describes a media consortium established for the Kobe case: "The news outlets brought in a trailer to serve as a listening room, with air conditioning and heat, so members without courtroom seats could follow testimony. They also negotiated to bring in power and phone lines to the site, rented portable toilets and arranged for a trailer to serve as a media workroom during the trial. Consortium members were assessed $500 to cover expenses from January through May. Parking in the dirt lot was an additional $100 per day, per satellite truck. By mid-February, 47 news organizations planning to regularly cover the case had joined. They had little choice--if they didn't pay, they wouldn't be able to use pool video, the listening room or other consortium resources." 12:51:34 AM

FOX Finds Out Who Jesus Is
"Who is Jesus?" That's what FOX asks in a special airing tomorrow night. Jon Scott traveled to Israel to host the show. Jennifer Griffin and Greg Burke chip in reports, too. It will air Sunday night at 9pm and 12am. Here's more information... 12:06:45 PM