Saturday, March 18, 2006
Soledad Interviews Soledad
Friday's American Morning featured Soledad O’Brien interviewing the “other” Soledad O’Brien and Miles O’Brien interviewing the “other” Miles O’Brien as CNN looked at the O’Brien family history for a St. Patrick’s day special.
# posted by ATN @ 1:17 PM 
Newman Leaving CNN
CNN's Havana bureau chief and correspondent Lucia Newman is leaving the network. Newman was named to the position when CNN opened the bureau in 1997.Following a report on Lou Dobb's Tonight on Friday, Dobbs had this to say:"Lucia Newman is leaving CNN, and we could not allow her to depart us without paying our respects and to salute a great and skillful, talented, bright colleague with whom we've had the pleasure to work over the past two decades. Lucia Newman, you're a delight. We're wishing you all the very best and we thank you. "
# posted by ATN @ 11:47 AM
Kocin Sent Into the Wind at TWC
The Weather Channel Winter Weather Expert Paul Kocin has been fired. Kocin writes that his position has been eliminated. According to his TWC bio, which is still on the website, Kocin joined TWC over 6 years ago.# posted by ATN @ 12:25 AM
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Time to Pull the Plug on King?
Joe Flint with the Wall Street Jounal seems to think it's time to pull the plug on Larry King. Flint thinks CNN should sacrafice the numbers LK brings in to bring back its credibility. Here's how Flint sums up the article:
"CNN appears to be of two minds on what direction it wants to take, torn between branding itself as the network of hard news and analysis, and one where tabloid programming like "Larry King Live," and, on sister channel Headline News, Nancy Grace, garner top billing. (Ms. Grace is viewed by some as a potential successor to Mr. King.) If CNN pulls the plug on "Larry King Live," the network's ratings will likely fall. But the short-term loss could be worth the longer-term boost to CNN's credibility. If the network waits three years, it might be too late."
"CNN appears to be of two minds on what direction it wants to take, torn between branding itself as the network of hard news and analysis, and one where tabloid programming like "Larry King Live," and, on sister channel Headline News, Nancy Grace, garner top billing. (Ms. Grace is viewed by some as a potential successor to Mr. King.) If CNN pulls the plug on "Larry King Live," the network's ratings will likely fall. But the short-term loss could be worth the longer-term boost to CNN's credibility. If the network waits three years, it might be too late."
# posted by ATN @ 7:06 PM
CNN Sales Promotes Two
Source: Media Week CNN has upped Greg Liebman as vp of its ad sales research team, where he'll be responsible for leading staff research analysis for the flagship network, as well as CNN Headline News and CNN.com.
Based in Time Warner's Columbus Circle office, Liebman reports to TBS chief research officer Jack Wakshlag.
Before joining CNN in 2004, Liebman previously served as research director for Zenith Media Optimedia, Saatchi & Saatchi, Hal Riney & Partners, Team One and ZGPE.
CNN on Wednesday also announced that it has promoted Keith Berkelhamer to vp, research for its digital ad sales team, where he'll report to Liebman.
Based in Time Warner's Columbus Circle office, Liebman reports to TBS chief research officer Jack Wakshlag.
Before joining CNN in 2004, Liebman previously served as research director for Zenith Media Optimedia, Saatchi & Saatchi, Hal Riney & Partners, Team One and ZGPE.
CNN on Wednesday also announced that it has promoted Keith Berkelhamer to vp, research for its digital ad sales team, where he'll report to Liebman.
# posted by ATN @ 7:04 PM
Monday, March 13, 2006
PEJ: CNN Remains The Cable News Leader
Well it's that time of the year. Time for The Project for Excellence in Journalism's "The State of the News Media 2006" report. The intro pretty much sums up the report:
"In a difficult time for media in general, the situation in cable news is now firmly split.
Fox News, by our reckoning, is growing on nearly all fronts. CNN’s situation is more complicated, though not as bleak as some might think. MSNBC remains on shaky ground.
At the same time, there are signs that the industry overall is beginning to mature, and that the kind of information cable offers may have trouble competing with what citizens can find online.
For the third straight year, our content analysis of cable suggests that it is thinly reported, suffers from a focus on the immediate, especially during the day, is prone to opinion mongering and is easily controlled by sources who want to filibuster. All of these raise questions about whether cable news will suffer if audiences begin to feel more comfortable with video and text on news websites as a substitute for getting instant news on television.
The audience picture for cable is complex. By the measures the cable channels use — simple averages — all the cable news audience was basically flat in 2005. By the method we prefer— looking at median audience — Fox News is still gaining, while CNN and MSNBC continue to lose audience. But when one looks at Cume — the number of unique or different viewers who tune in over the course of a month — CNN remains the cable news leader. That means its pool of viewers is larger, but they watch less often.
Financially, CNN remains the industry leader, thanks in part to a strong brand and more operations, but Fox News is catching up, and is likely to keep doing so. MSNBC, on the other hand, trails and the departure of Microsoft as part owner leaves the future further up in the air.
Fox News' strength is also evident in terms of who is building their channel. For the second year in a row, it will add to how much it spends on its programming by almost a quarter, while MSNBC is cutting, and CNN is building more modestly.
The bigger question may involve the migration of news consumers online. While all three channels have well-established web sites, and are trying to create a common experience between the two outlets, the question is whether they can convert their brands as places to go for news instantaneously as well as for depth. This is more so given that older media, including newspapers and the old networks, appear to be accelerating their efforts at offering news in real time."
"In a difficult time for media in general, the situation in cable news is now firmly split.
Fox News, by our reckoning, is growing on nearly all fronts. CNN’s situation is more complicated, though not as bleak as some might think. MSNBC remains on shaky ground.
At the same time, there are signs that the industry overall is beginning to mature, and that the kind of information cable offers may have trouble competing with what citizens can find online.
For the third straight year, our content analysis of cable suggests that it is thinly reported, suffers from a focus on the immediate, especially during the day, is prone to opinion mongering and is easily controlled by sources who want to filibuster. All of these raise questions about whether cable news will suffer if audiences begin to feel more comfortable with video and text on news websites as a substitute for getting instant news on television.
The audience picture for cable is complex. By the measures the cable channels use — simple averages — all the cable news audience was basically flat in 2005. By the method we prefer— looking at median audience — Fox News is still gaining, while CNN and MSNBC continue to lose audience. But when one looks at Cume — the number of unique or different viewers who tune in over the course of a month — CNN remains the cable news leader. That means its pool of viewers is larger, but they watch less often.
Financially, CNN remains the industry leader, thanks in part to a strong brand and more operations, but Fox News is catching up, and is likely to keep doing so. MSNBC, on the other hand, trails and the departure of Microsoft as part owner leaves the future further up in the air.
Fox News' strength is also evident in terms of who is building their channel. For the second year in a row, it will add to how much it spends on its programming by almost a quarter, while MSNBC is cutting, and CNN is building more modestly.
The bigger question may involve the migration of news consumers online. While all three channels have well-established web sites, and are trying to create a common experience between the two outlets, the question is whether they can convert their brands as places to go for news instantaneously as well as for depth. This is more so given that older media, including newspapers and the old networks, appear to be accelerating their efforts at offering news in real time."
# posted by ATN @ 10:08 PM
