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Biden Campaign to Networks: Stop Booking Giuliani

He has 'demonstrated that he will knowingly and willingly lie'

(Newser) - Joe Biden's campaign has asked TV networks to stop allowing President Trump's attorney to "introduce increasingly unhinged, unfounded, and desperate lies into the national conversation." In a letter to the heads of networks including ABC, NBC, CNN, CBS, and Fox seen by Politico , Biden campaign officials...

CBS News Head Steps Down
CBS News Head Steps Down

CBS News Head Steps Down

Susan Zirinsky will replace David Rhodes

(Newser) - CBS said Sunday that its news division president, David Rhodes, is stepping down following a troubled year that saw morning anchor Charlie Rose and the top executive at 60 Minutes lose their jobs following misconduct reports. He is being replaced by veteran producer Susan Zirinsky. Zirinsky, who started work at...

Clinton's NBC Gig Proves News Biz Is a Joke

It's become an aristocracy, or entertainment, depending who you read

(Newser) - Chelsea Clinton’s hiring at NBC prompted an inspired rant from Glenn Greenwald on Salon . Pointing out the fact that NBC has also hired Jenna Bush, Meghan McCain, and Luke Russert, Greenwald writes, “I really don’t understand what those angry, lazy losers in the Occupy movement are so...

Katie Couric Is Out at CBS News

She'll likely launch syndicated talk show, says source

(Newser) - It's been rumored for weeks , but a CBS Evening News official is now (anonymously) confirming that Katie Couric is leaving her anchor post. Couric, 54, the first woman in US history to be sole anchor of a daily network news program, plans to start a syndicated talk show some time...

Latest Casualty of World's Upheaval: Media Budgets

From Libya to Japan, the money's running out

(Newser) - There’s been a lot of news around the world in 2011—too much, in fact, for some news organizations to handle. Japan, Libya, and Egypt have stretched already tight cable and broadcast news budgets to the breaking point, The Wrap reports. “We've already had a year's worth of...

Ted Koppel Bemoans 'Death of Real News'
Ted Koppel Bemoans
'Death of Real News'
OPINION

Ted Koppel Bemoans 'Death of Real News'

He doesn't like the opinion factories of Olbermann, O'Reilly

(Newser) - Ted Koppel thinks the Keith Olbermann suspension was nearly quaint, a throwback to the good old days when networks cared about "unbiased news." In an op-ed for Sunday's Washington Post , he laments the rise of opinions over facts. "The commercial success of both MSNBC and Fox News...

Fox News Agrees to Run Ad Criticizing News Corp.

Ad calls attention to News Corp's GOP donation

(Newser) - Fox—unlike other news networks—has barely mentioned the fact that its parent company has donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. The network has, however, agreed to accept some money from its critics and run an ad from watchdog group Media Matters for America informing its viewers of...

ABC's Donaldson to Retire Next Week

Bellowing newscaster is 'sweetheart underneath'

(Newser) - Sam Donaldson is calling it quits after a 41-year career distinguished by a booming voice and tough demeanor, Howard Kurtz reports in the Washington Post. “I guess it’ll be on my tombstone,” Donaldson muses. “He yelled at Ronald Reagan.” Donaldson became famous for shouting questions...

Few Minorities Report on the White House
Few Minorities Report
on the White House 
Analysis

Few Minorities Report on the White House

Diversity in Washington journalism remains uneven

(Newser) - Although America is nearing the inauguration of its first black president, the press corps that will be covering him remains largely white, the Washington Post reports. Cable news has delivered a few minority reporters, like CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux and Wendell Goler from Fox News. But the broadcast networks remain...

Talking Heads Vow Restraint ... Sort of

Networks vow some restraint

(Newser) - Television news executives have vowed they won't jump the gun and project a president-elect until one man has 270 electoral votes. And they won't count electoral votes until polls are closed, reports the Los Angeles Times. But if key states in the East and Midwest back Obama, viewers will likely...

Maddow Helps MSNBC Make Left Turn
Maddow Helps MSNBC Make Left Turn
analysis

Maddow Helps MSNBC Make Left Turn

Network hopes new anchor will translate into ratings, ad revenue

(Newser) - Rachel Maddow's promotion to prime-time at MSNBC more clearly draws the partisan lines among the cable networks, writes Brian Stelter of the New York Times: MSNBC on the left, Fox on the right, and CNN claiming middle ground. Now the big question: Will the Maddow move translate into more ads?...

Even in Tight Election, Media Struggle to Retain Audience

Choosier consumers, Internet video hurt

(Newser) - Even as the 2008 election attracts more voter interest than it has in decades, media efforts to translate that into financial success have had mixed results, reports the New York Times. While cable news has enjoyed an uptick—and websites are setting record for online video—viewership for mainstream news...

Cable Dominates News by Blowing Up Stories
Cable Dominates News by Blowing Up Stories
ANALYSIS

Cable Dominates News by Blowing Up Stories

But print reporters dig up the stories that play on TV

(Newser) - Twenty-four-hour cable networks set the news agenda by turning stories "from brushfire to raging conflagration," Paul Farhi writes in the American Journalism Review. Particularly during presidential campaigns, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC pull stories from newspapers and web sites and make them hot by running them day and...

All 3 Network Anchors Will Travel Abroad With Obama

Access to Dem lures Gibson, Couric, Williams to Europe, Mideast

(Newser) - Charlie Gibson, Katie Couric and Brian Williams will all be part of Barack Obama’s foreign trip that begins later this week, Howard Kurtz reveals in the Washington Post—as the Dem’s campaign impressively “draws the anchors halfway around the world by offering access.” The ABC, CBS...

Minutes Dwindle for Networks' War Coverage
 Minutes Dwindle for
 Networks' War Coverage 
ANALYSIS

Minutes Dwindle for Networks' War Coverage

Bureaus cut amid financial concerns; political primary blots out other stories

(Newser) - Middle East correspondents are struggling to get stories on the nightly news as TV networks scale back war coverage, the New York Times reports. With violence in Iraq declining and the US public tiring of an open-ended conflict, network execs have focused on hot topics like the contentious presidential primaries....

Cable Guys Won't Likely Fill Russert's Seat

Execs don't want pundits messing with 'pristine' NBC News

(Newser) - Early word on Tim Russert's Meet the Press successor focused on in-house candidates, like Chris Matthews, David Gregory, or Joe Scarborough. But one insider now tells Variety that there’s “no way” a cable personality will land the gig. NBC’s broadcast division would rather stay “pristine”—...

Anchors (Except for Katie) Just Don't Get It
Anchors (Except for Katie) Just Don't Get It
opinion

Anchors (Except for Katie) Just Don't Get It

Response to McClellan flap is embarrassing, says writer

(Newser) - Katie Couric thinks Scott McClellan has a point with his criticism of the media in the lead-up to the war, but Charlie Gibson and Brian Williams beg to differ—and that's a disgrace, writes Glenn Greenwald in Salon. During a get-together of network anchors, the "painfully empty-headed Gibson" and...

Networks Will Partner For Cancer Telethon

Gibson, Couric and Williams to co-host Sept. 5 event

(Newser) - ABC, CBS and NBC have decided to work together to fight cancer, the New York Times reports. Each network's lead news anchor will appear on a Sept. 5 telethon broadcast on all three channels simultaneously. The principles—CBS's Katie Couric, NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Charlie Gibson—have all lost...

Couric Gets Vote of Confidence
 Couric Gets Vote of Confidence 

Couric Gets Vote of Confidence

Anchor's not going anywhere, CBS boss Moonves tells news staffers

(Newser) - Katie Couric will anchor the CBS Evening News for a long time to come, the network's CEO told staffers today, TVNewser reports. Les Moonves dropped in on the daily news meeting to dispel recent rumors that Couric is not long for the newscast, which sits at the bottom of the...

Couric's Not Only Thing Networks Should Toss
Couric's Not Only Thing Networks Should Toss
OPINION

Couric's Not Only Thing Networks Should Toss

Evening news shows on their last legs

(Newser) - Evening network news, with or without Katie Couric aboard, is going nowhere, Ron Grover writes in BusinessWeek—then offers suggestions on what the TV giants should do to hook viewers:
  • Make the news available on the viewers' time: Get big-name anchors on tape earlier, and put those newscasts online.

20 Stories