Thursday, April 19, 2007
VA Tech Shooting: To Air or Not to Air Video, Including CNN
Looks like news organizations have now changed their minds about airing video and pictures from the package the killer sent to NBC:
NBC and its MSNBC cable outlet will "severely limit" use of these pictures going forward, "Today" host Matt Lauer said, a restriction echoed by ABC News. At both CBS News and CNN, producers will need explicit approval from their bosses to use them going forward.
Fox News announced on the air late Thursday morning that it would no longer air Cho's material, saying "sometimes you change your mind."
These decisions, of course, came more than 12 hours after the pictures became available, after they already made their impact. The news cycle dictates they would be used less, anyway.
"It has value as breaking news," said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider, "but then becomes practically pornographic as it is just repeated ad nauseam."
Jon Klein, president of CNN U.S., said the decision to air it was a tough call.
"As breaking news, it's pertinent to our understanding of why this was done," he said. "Then, once the public has seen the material and digested it, then it's fair to say, 'How much should we be showing it?' I think it's to the credit of news organizations that they are dialing back."
NBC and its MSNBC cable outlet will "severely limit" use of these pictures going forward, "Today" host Matt Lauer said, a restriction echoed by ABC News. At both CBS News and CNN, producers will need explicit approval from their bosses to use them going forward.
Fox News announced on the air late Thursday morning that it would no longer air Cho's material, saying "sometimes you change your mind."
These decisions, of course, came more than 12 hours after the pictures became available, after they already made their impact. The news cycle dictates they would be used less, anyway.
"It has value as breaking news," said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider, "but then becomes practically pornographic as it is just repeated ad nauseam."
Jon Klein, president of CNN U.S., said the decision to air it was a tough call.
"As breaking news, it's pertinent to our understanding of why this was done," he said. "Then, once the public has seen the material and digested it, then it's fair to say, 'How much should we be showing it?' I think it's to the credit of news organizations that they are dialing back."
# posted by ATN @ 2:01 PM 
King Wants Another 10 Years on CNN
Hollywood Reporter's Ray Richmond writes:When disgraced Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling granted his first interview after being charged with fraud and insider trading, it was Larry King who received the plum exclusive.
King sat with Watergate break-in legends Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the day the notorious Deep Throat revealed his identity. He was granted a jailhouse interview with pickaxe murderer Karla Faye Tucker, the first woman to be executed in Texas since the Civil War.
It seems that no matter who they are, if they're willing to talk, more often than not it's King they want to talk to.
In fact, the man in the trademark horn-rimmed glasses, tie and suspenders (no jacket, sleeves rolled up) -- who has been at this broadcasting game for 50 of his 73 years -- says he'd like to put in 10 more years on-air for CNN. And despite undergoing a procedure to unblock a major artery in mid-March, King seems poised to deliver on that promise. MORE
# posted by ATN @ 8:49 AM
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
VA Tech Shooting: Online News Sites Feel the Surge
Source: Tech Web Online traffic to news and media sites rose 16 percent Monday compared to Sunday's traffic and 27 percent compared to the previous Monday, according to the report. CNN's Exchange, which features reader contributions, increased by an astounding 2,063 percent from Sunday to Monday. Traffic to CNN.com's main site increased by 59 percent.
Television Web sites had the largest gain, with ABC News leading the pack among major networks with a 245 percent increase in traffic since Sunday. MSNBC.com experienced a 161 percent rise in traffic, while Fox News' traffic grew by 64 percent, in that same 24 hours.
Yahoo News, which is mainly a content aggregator, had the largest percentage increase while it also ranked as the top visited news and media Web site among those Hitwise tracks. It received 8.69 percent of the visits recorded in the category and traffic increased by 62 percent over Monday.
AOL News traffic rose 37 percent from Sunday to Monday, while Google News rose 6 percent. The New York Times suffered a 2 percent drop in traffic, while Yahoo Weather experienced a 32 percent drop, even as many parts of the East Coast flooded from the weekend's storm.
Television Web sites had the largest gain, with ABC News leading the pack among major networks with a 245 percent increase in traffic since Sunday. MSNBC.com experienced a 161 percent rise in traffic, while Fox News' traffic grew by 64 percent, in that same 24 hours.
Yahoo News, which is mainly a content aggregator, had the largest percentage increase while it also ranked as the top visited news and media Web site among those Hitwise tracks. It received 8.69 percent of the visits recorded in the category and traffic increased by 62 percent over Monday.
AOL News traffic rose 37 percent from Sunday to Monday, while Google News rose 6 percent. The New York Times suffered a 2 percent drop in traffic, while Yahoo Weather experienced a 32 percent drop, even as many parts of the East Coast flooded from the weekend's storm.
# posted by ATN @ 10:55 PM
VA Tech Shooting: Media Orgs Make Sure Websurfers Follow Their Link
Source: Associated Press If you Googled "Virginia Tech shooting" or "Virginia shooting" this week, the Internet search engine served up dozens of links to news about the university massacre. Yet some media outlets weren't taking the chance of missing readers' attention by being bumped down the list.
The New York Times and The Washington Post, for example, bought keyword ads that put their coverage into the prominent "sponsored links" atop the Google results page. So did The First Post, a British online news magazine. The Times, CNN and Fox News got similar links up on Yahoo; Fox News also mined MSN.
Buying keyword ads to run alongside search engine results is a well-established practice. All kinds of companies, in and out of the media, do it when sporting events or TV shows turn something into a hot topic. MORE
The New York Times and The Washington Post, for example, bought keyword ads that put their coverage into the prominent "sponsored links" atop the Google results page. So did The First Post, a British online news magazine. The Times, CNN and Fox News got similar links up on Yahoo; Fox News also mined MSN.
Buying keyword ads to run alongside search engine results is a well-established practice. All kinds of companies, in and out of the media, do it when sporting events or TV shows turn something into a hot topic. MORE
# posted by ATN @ 10:06 PM
VA Tech Shooting: Numbers Up for All Channels
Source: Chicago Tribune Fox News Channel's total-day average viewership of 1.6 million Monday was up 115 percent compared with its average for the first quarter of the year; in prime time its average of 2.7 million was up 71 percent over the average for the same period. CNN's all-day average viewership of 1.4 million was up 186 percent, with a prime-time boost of 217 percent to an average of 2.4 million.
According to preliminary numbers, "The NBC Nightly News" with anchor Brian Williams on campus attracted an estimated 10.2 million viewers, but that's less than 4 percent above his average for the first quarter. ABC's "World News" with Charles Gibson anchoring from New York had 9.8 million viewers, up 7 percent. "The CBS Evening News" expanded to an hour with Katie Couric on site, but upped its first-quarter average less than 2 percent, to a little more than 7.4 million viewers.
The network newscasts simply couldn't add much to the coverage already out there, and a prime-time "Dateline NBC" special Monday on the incident took a distant third place out of three network shows in its time slot, with around 6.3 million viewers.
That's more than 9 million fewer viewers than the fictional murder and mayhem of first-place "CSI: Miami" on CBS.
According to preliminary numbers, "The NBC Nightly News" with anchor Brian Williams on campus attracted an estimated 10.2 million viewers, but that's less than 4 percent above his average for the first quarter. ABC's "World News" with Charles Gibson anchoring from New York had 9.8 million viewers, up 7 percent. "The CBS Evening News" expanded to an hour with Katie Couric on site, but upped its first-quarter average less than 2 percent, to a little more than 7.4 million viewers.
The network newscasts simply couldn't add much to the coverage already out there, and a prime-time "Dateline NBC" special Monday on the incident took a distant third place out of three network shows in its time slot, with around 6.3 million viewers.
That's more than 9 million fewer viewers than the fictional murder and mayhem of first-place "CSI: Miami" on CBS.
# posted by ATN @ 11:59 AM
VA Tech Shooting: Putting News Back on Cable News Channels
New York Daily News columnist David Bianculli writes about how even though how tragic, the Virginia Tech shooting story actually put news back on the cable news channels:
The coverage may have been redundant, conflicting, confusing or inconclusive - but it was there. And for once, it was justified in its scope, focus and tone.
The Virginia Tech story is the third story in a row that cable networks have chased nonstop, with coverage that has varied in major ways.
The first campaign, the wall-to-wall attention to Anna Nicole Smith's death and her baby's parentage, was a shameless and shameful display of sensational TV overkill.
That story vanished because of Don Imus' mouth, and the disgust that followed his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team.
But once Virginia Tech broke, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC latched onto an actual tragic news event. They provided welcome coverage, especially of the initial press conferences, even when their broadcast counterparts did not.
Cable news regained a bit of its focus, if not its soul, the past two days.
The coverage may have been redundant, conflicting, confusing or inconclusive - but it was there. And for once, it was justified in its scope, focus and tone.
The Virginia Tech story is the third story in a row that cable networks have chased nonstop, with coverage that has varied in major ways.
The first campaign, the wall-to-wall attention to Anna Nicole Smith's death and her baby's parentage, was a shameless and shameful display of sensational TV overkill.
That story vanished because of Don Imus' mouth, and the disgust that followed his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team.
But once Virginia Tech broke, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC latched onto an actual tragic news event. They provided welcome coverage, especially of the initial press conferences, even when their broadcast counterparts did not.
Cable news regained a bit of its focus, if not its soul, the past two days.
# posted by ATN @ 11:42 AM
O'brien Shines at Gala; Weigh's in on Katie Couric
Source: New York Observer Though freshly removed from her co-anchor slot on CNN’s American Morning, Soledad O’Brien was in apparent high spirits at the 10th-anniversary Dress for Success Gala at the Times Square Marriott Marquis on Thursday, April 12. Indeed, she was the last celebrity to leave the red carpet.
“Great! Good for you! How old are you?” Ms. O’Brien asked after a young reporter for Fox News introduced herself. Twenty-two, said the trembling Eve Harrington. “Awesome—that’s perfect!” beamed Ms. O’Brien, 40, clad in a fitted cream pantsuit over a leopard-print tank with matching leopard-print heels (rrrrow!). “If you’re not a little bit scared,” she further encouraged, “you’re not doing it right.”
The Transom asked for Ms. O’Brien’s take on the recent scandal over at CBS, which fired producer Melissa McNamara after she plagiarized a Wall Street Journal column for one of Katie Couric’s first-person commentaries. “Well, you know, she’s a mentor of mine, so I talk to her all the time,” Ms. O’Brien said of Ms. Couric. “When I was at NBC and I didn’t have an agent, she called up her agent, and the next thing I knew, I was represented by CAA. I mean, people don’t do that. So I’ve always been incredibly grateful to her.
“I think she’s a great role model for women, because she’s made a very brave choice,” Ms. O’Brien continued. “She’s gone out and tackled something, and nobody before her—no woman—has done the evening news, and I think she has gotten a lot of barbs because of that. Some of the attacks are very personal, and because she is a woman. I’m sorry to have to admit that, but it’s true. I think she’s handled it with grace. This too shall pass, because one thing Katie Couric is, is a terrific journalist. Everybody knows that. And Brian Williams too!”
“Great! Good for you! How old are you?” Ms. O’Brien asked after a young reporter for Fox News introduced herself. Twenty-two, said the trembling Eve Harrington. “Awesome—that’s perfect!” beamed Ms. O’Brien, 40, clad in a fitted cream pantsuit over a leopard-print tank with matching leopard-print heels (rrrrow!). “If you’re not a little bit scared,” she further encouraged, “you’re not doing it right.”
The Transom asked for Ms. O’Brien’s take on the recent scandal over at CBS, which fired producer Melissa McNamara after she plagiarized a Wall Street Journal column for one of Katie Couric’s first-person commentaries. “Well, you know, she’s a mentor of mine, so I talk to her all the time,” Ms. O’Brien said of Ms. Couric. “When I was at NBC and I didn’t have an agent, she called up her agent, and the next thing I knew, I was represented by CAA. I mean, people don’t do that. So I’ve always been incredibly grateful to her.
“I think she’s a great role model for women, because she’s made a very brave choice,” Ms. O’Brien continued. “She’s gone out and tackled something, and nobody before her—no woman—has done the evening news, and I think she has gotten a lot of barbs because of that. Some of the attacks are very personal, and because she is a woman. I’m sorry to have to admit that, but it’s true. I think she’s handled it with grace. This too shall pass, because one thing Katie Couric is, is a terrific journalist. Everybody knows that. And Brian Williams too!”
# posted by ATN @ 12:28 AM
VA Tech Shooting: Media Coverage Example of Scope of the Story
The Virginia Tech shooting will probablyh wind up being the biggest news story of 2007. USA Today is running a story in Wednesday's edition on how the amount of media in that showed up to cover reflects the large scale of the tragedy:If only we were as good at preventing tragedies as we've become at recording them.
Instead, once again, a medium that so often divides us united us in grief. First, TV brought us together in horror, as early matter-of-fact reports of a Virginia Tech shooting ballooned into coverage of the country's deadliest ever. On Tuesday, it brought us together in sorrow, at a moving convocation service broadcast live across every major network outlet — at least until ABC made the unfortunate decision to leave early, cheating its audience out of Nikki Giovanni's rousing final address.
We've come to recognize this televised unity as a signal that a crisis has grown to national proportions. It was a message repeated by President Bush at his most down-home eloquent, declaring it "a day of sadness for our entire nation. … In this time of anguish, I hope you know that people all over this country are thinking about you." MORE
# posted by ATN @ 12:05 AM
VA Tech Shooting: More Than One Place to Tell a Story
Pretty good article in USA Today about all the avenues broadcasters used to get information out about the shootings at Virginia Tech. Below is an excerpt from the article: News outlets say that because of the initial difficulty of getting reporters to the scene, they solicited information from students on their websites and told staffs to look to the Web for video and stories. CNN's cellphone video from a student drew 9.2 million Web views. Digital arms of most news outlets reached out to Virginia Tech students online. And information was posted as soon as it came in — a break from past years when they often saved exclusives for nightly newscasts.
"The world has changed. I can't imagine someone here saying, 'You cannot break this immediately,' " Wallace says. She likes that, she says, because it gives more room for "context" stories on Nightly News.
But Friedman says executives did discuss holding — at least until CBS' live 2 p.m. coverage of the memorial service on the Virginia Tech campus Tuesday — an exclusive report by investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian at about 12:30 p.m. regarding the gun shop where the suspect bought his weapons. Producers decided to post the report immediately on CBSNews.com and CBS Radio.
Overall, "this was a very modern example of all-hands-on-deck reporting," Slavin says. "It was amazing to watch how all the news organizations dove into so many specialties and sub-specialties to get a very rapid sense of what was happening."
# posted by ATN @ 12:03 AM
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
CNN Prime Fares Well Monday; Wins Demo in Day and Prime
Larry King Live and Anderson Cooper 360 (minus AC) swept past all of FNC's prime-time shows, except Bill O'reilly, Monday night. According to numbers from Drudge, BO had 3,546,000 total viewers, Larry King 2,574,000 and Anderson Cooper 360 had 2,535,000...followed by Greta and Hannity and Colmes of FNC. Paula Zahn topped just over two million viewers Monday night.
AND
According to TV Newser, CNN won outright the demo viewers...with CNN with 1,074,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo to FNC's 847,000, in primetime. In total day CNN had 554,000 versus 546,000 for FNC.
AND
According to TV Newser, CNN won outright the demo viewers...with CNN with 1,074,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo to FNC's 847,000, in primetime. In total day CNN had 554,000 versus 546,000 for FNC.
# posted by ATN @ 5:34 PM
CNN Special Investigations Unit Examines Virginia Tech Massacre
Source: CNN Press Release In what has become the worst mass shooting in American history, a lone gunman killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech on an otherwise ordinary spring morning in Blacksburg , Va. , before turning the weapon upon himself. Anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien will report on the tragic events for an hour-long CNN: Special Investigations Unit documentary. Massacre at Virginia Tech will air on Saturday, April 21, and Sunday, April 22, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. All times Eastern.
O’Brien will provide a minute-by-minute account of the campus rampage as she discusses how and why the events happened and whether they could have been prevented. CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has investigated the nation’s gun laws in previous reports and will trace how the shooter acquired his weapons and exploited vulnerabilities in campus security to inflict maximum damage.
“The stunning events at Virginia Tech on April 16 are devastatingly shocking,” said Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions. “CNN will use its investigative resources to help put these terrible events into context and reveal the lessons to be learned from our current gun laws.”
O’Brien will provide a minute-by-minute account of the campus rampage as she discusses how and why the events happened and whether they could have been prevented. CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has investigated the nation’s gun laws in previous reports and will trace how the shooter acquired his weapons and exploited vulnerabilities in campus security to inflict maximum damage.
“The stunning events at Virginia Tech on April 16 are devastatingly shocking,” said Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions. “CNN will use its investigative resources to help put these terrible events into context and reveal the lessons to be learned from our current gun laws.”
# posted by ATN @ 1:42 PM
VA Tech Shooting: CNN Stats and Programming Notes
> I -Reports: CNN is receiving I-Reports from the scene, including cell phone video.
As of now, the Albarghouti I-Report has generated more than 2 million views on CNN.com.
CNN has received more than 120 I-Report submissions. Approximately 1/3 of those submissions have been approved for air.
> CNN.com- Total page views: 96-million (versus about 50 million average day) Video views: 9.2-million (up from about 2.1 million average day) I-Report video accounted for about 2.5-million of those 9.2-million views
> John Roberts and Kiran Chetry will anchor special coverage of the 2 p.m. Memorial service.
> Chief national correspondent John King will anchor Anderson Cooper 360 live from the region this evening at 10 p.m. (All times Eastern).
> Larry King Live – Interview with Katie Couric pre-empted. Larry King will be live from New York for a live program in the aftermath of the shooting.
> CNN Special Investigations Unit: Special airs this weekend with Soledad O’Brien and Drew Griffin reporting from Blacksburg , Virginia . Airs April 21 and 22 at 8 & 11 p.m.
> CNN Pipeline: Live coverage of the Virginia Tech Memorial at 2 p.m. will be available free to all CNN.com visitors.
> CNN.com has created a special section at cnn.com/virginiatech
> CNN International is simulcasting CNN/U.S.
> CNN Radio brings you coverage of the shootings at Virginia Tech, with an anchored, one-hour live program, live reporters and special reports.
> Currently approximately 120 personnel have been deployed to Blacksburg , Virginia
As of now, the Albarghouti I-Report has generated more than 2 million views on CNN.com.
CNN has received more than 120 I-Report submissions. Approximately 1/3 of those submissions have been approved for air.
> CNN.com- Total page views: 96-million (versus about 50 million average day) Video views: 9.2-million (up from about 2.1 million average day) I-Report video accounted for about 2.5-million of those 9.2-million views
> John Roberts and Kiran Chetry will anchor special coverage of the 2 p.m. Memorial service.
> Chief national correspondent John King will anchor Anderson Cooper 360 live from the region this evening at 10 p.m. (All times Eastern).
> Larry King Live – Interview with Katie Couric pre-empted. Larry King will be live from New York for a live program in the aftermath of the shooting.
> CNN Special Investigations Unit: Special airs this weekend with Soledad O’Brien and Drew Griffin reporting from Blacksburg , Virginia . Airs April 21 and 22 at 8 & 11 p.m.
> CNN Pipeline: Live coverage of the Virginia Tech Memorial at 2 p.m. will be available free to all CNN.com visitors.
> CNN.com has created a special section at cnn.com/virginiatech
> CNN International is simulcasting CNN/U.S.
> CNN Radio brings you coverage of the shootings at Virginia Tech, with an anchored, one-hour live program, live reporters and special reports.
> Currently approximately 120 personnel have been deployed to Blacksburg , Virginia
# posted by ATN @ 1:03 PM
Grace's Life's Ups and Downs
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal News anchor Nancy Grace revealed a softer side to her tough-as-nails persona Monday night before an audience of about 400 at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Smart Talk Lecture series.Grace, host of CNN's "Nancy Grace" Headline News, grew up in Georgia, where she experienced a "hardscrabble" life. People didn't even know they were poor, she said.
To illustrate a bit of her childhood, Grace talked about the Easter photos taken every year that showed her and her sister in dresses their mother cut from the same bolt of fabric.
Grace also shared a story about how life goes from ordinary to extraordinary in a matter of seconds. She said in Georgia there was a woman who saved a small girl playing in the dirt from an attack by a rattlesnake. The woman killed the snake with a hoe.
"That woman was my mother and that girl was me," she said.
Grace went college planning to become an English professor. At school, she met her fiance.
Her life changed when he was murdered, shot five times in the neck and head in an apparent robbery, she said.
"In the days and weeks that followed, my world exploded," she said.
She dropped out of school and couldn't eat, sleep, read or do anything. The world seemed to be passing by, and no one seemed to notice.
After a while, she decided to go to law school.
It was a "struggle" to complete her schooling, but afterward, she went to work as a prosecutor for the Atlanta-Fulton County district attorney's office, where she tried felony cases.
Television appearances led to work on Court TV and CNN.
# posted by ATN @ 11:15 AM
Everyone's Talking About the Cell Phone Video
The internet and eyewitnesses played a key role Monday in the shooting at Virginia Tech. The video clip from CNN's I-Report was one of the first pieces of video that really put the story together. Below are a number of quotes from the newspapers this morning about that clip:> Reuters: There was a phenomenal amount of interest in the coverage of the school shooting online. A shaky video taken by Tech student Jamal Albarghouti drew at least 900,000 hits on CNN.com in the first several hours of its uploading as part of the network's I-Report. The video showed the scene outside Norris Hall, where many victims had been murdered, with the clear sound of 27 gunshots. Other networks also had video and pictures from the scene.> The Denver Post:The student who captured the sounds of carnage on his cellphone, Jamal Albarghouti, told CNN that "after a minute when I reached the area where I took the video from, I saw cops with guns and they were asking everyone to lay down or leave really quickly," he said. "I knew it wasn't another bomb threat. I knew it was something way more serious."
> Chicago Tribune: Albarghouti was one of more than 100 so-called I-Reporters to submit Virginia Tech content to CNN.Once CNN realized what it had, it paid him an undisclosed amount of money for exclusivity, limiting other networks to no more than 10 seconds of the clip.
# posted by ATN @ 10:40 AM
Roberts, Chetry Anchor AM from VA Tech
On their second day as anchors of American Morning, Kiran Chetry and John Roberts were LIVE on location, broadcasting the program from the campus of Virginia Tech. CNN has sent a slew of correspondents and anchors to the scene following the deadly shooting Monday.
# posted by ATN @ 10:29 AM
VT Shooting: Coverage of the Coverage
From the Washington Post: CNN was the first of the cable news networks to break the story, reporting it to viewers at 10:07 a.m., according to an industry insider. Fox News Channel was next at 10:12, followed by the NBC-owned MSNBC at 10:13. An anonymous troublemaker e-mailed a media blog to say that MSNBC was half an hour late in getting the story on the air, but a network source said that was simply not so.
For Fox, it was a day of proving that the network is more than just a staging ground for shouting matches by firebrands and zealots. Throughout the day, its reporting was solid and enterprising and, gruesome as it sounds, Fox stayed ahead of CNN most of the time on the number of people killed or injured by the gunman, who still hadn't been identified by the time the evening network newscasts went on the air.
CNN got some wobbly video taken by a Virginia Tech student with a cellphone camera. What made it unique and valuable was the soundtrack: Gunshots could be heard coming from one of the buildings. When ABC aired the video on its evening newscast, it was captioned "CNN Exclusive."
For Fox, it was a day of proving that the network is more than just a staging ground for shouting matches by firebrands and zealots. Throughout the day, its reporting was solid and enterprising and, gruesome as it sounds, Fox stayed ahead of CNN most of the time on the number of people killed or injured by the gunman, who still hadn't been identified by the time the evening network newscasts went on the air.
CNN got some wobbly video taken by a Virginia Tech student with a cellphone camera. What made it unique and valuable was the soundtrack: Gunshots could be heard coming from one of the buildings. When ABC aired the video on its evening newscast, it was captioned "CNN Exclusive."
# posted by ATN @ 12:41 AM
Monday, April 16, 2007
I-Report: Virginia Tech Shooting
What compelling video was submitted from a student at Virginia Tech as shots rang out. Seems CNN's I-Report is working out well.
04/17/2007 UPDATE: This from The New York Times :The most disturbing thing on the screen was the sound recorded on Jamal Albarghouti’s cellphone camera outside Norris Hall — the sharp blast of a gun or guns firing over and over. Mr. Albarghouti, a student, told CNN that he thought at first that the police were responding to a bomb threat. Ordered to the ground by officers, he kept his cellphone on and aloft as shot after shot rang out, then at 11 a.m. sent his material to “I-Reports,” a section on the CNN Web site that solicits news and disaster images from bystanders. After giving Mr. Albarghouti a contract for exclusive use, CNN put the clip on the air half an hour later under the I-Report logo. By evening, CNN.com had recorded 1.8 million hits on that clip.
# posted by ATN @ 10:17 PM
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Larry King Thinks John Roberts Should be His Perfect Successor
Larry King celebrates his 50th year in broadcasting this week. In an interview in USA Today, King answers a number of questions...including who he would like to succeed him at the mic:Q: Go ahead, anoint your successor.
A: (CNN's) John Roberts. He was a great White House correspondent, and he's a natural interviewer.
Below are a few more questions and answers from the interview:
Q: Who are your top five interviews?
A: First, Malcolm X. He taught me a lot about my own thinking. He made me concentrate much more on racism in America in the early '60s. He was profound and memorable.
Frank Sinatra: He was vibrant, passionate. He had a little chip on his shoulder, he had a sense of humor, and he could literally put you on stage with him.
Martin Luther King Jr.: Eloquent, a preacher beyond "preacherdom," if there is such a word. He changed the room when he walked in, and he had one of the greatest voices ever.
Mario Cuomo: Consistently passionate, a wonderful sense of humor, bright, an interviewer's dream.
Jane Fonda: Great sense of humor. She has drive, extraordinary compassion and an ability to articulate her positions on various issues.
Q: What's your single most memorable career moment?
A: Danny Kaye, talking to the mother of a sailor killed in Korea. She called in to my radio show to tell him how much her son loved Danny and how she dusted Danny's picture next her son's picture on her television set every day. Danny sang Deenah to her.
Q: Are you going to retire someday?
A: Retire to what? I wouldn't know what to do with retirement. I love what I do. I still feel just as good. I still like it when the light goes on. I still love meeting people. My curiosity remains endless. And I figure the more I work, the more I push off that big Brooklyn guy in the sky from making the grab.
Q: What if CNN had never come along?
A: CNN happened because I worked in television all my years, as well. In fact, my 50 years in broadcasting include 48 on television. So I wouldn't have been on CNN, but I would have been on local television in Miami, Washington and L.A., if I had moved to L.A. The effect would have been I wouldn't have been known in Tehran.
# posted by ATN @ 11:18 PM
Candidates Dump FNC/CBC Debate in Favor of CNN's CBC Debate
Source: Louisiana Weekly Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's Jessie Jackson Sr. is among a string of activists denouncing the Congressional Black Caucus Institute's planned presidential debate partnership with Fox News, calling for the decision to be reversed and for presidential candidates to boycott the debate.
"I am disappointed by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute's partnership with FOX," said Jackson in an interview with ColorOfChange.org. "And strongly encourage them to reverse that decision. Why would presidential candidates, or an organization that is supposed to advocate for Black Americans, ever give a stamp of legitimacy to a network that continually marginalizes Black leaders and the Black community? FOX moderating a presidential debate on issues of importance to Black Americans is literally letting the Fox guard the henhouse- Fox should be rejected."
This CBC Institute's decision came even after Black Members of Congress were contacted through emails and phone calls by nearly 12,000 activists from ColorOfChange.org, an online lobbying group aimed at promoting and resolving issues effecting Black Americans.
The growing criticism is largely in the form of an online petition from ColorOfChange.org. Launched on March 30th, The petition demands that the CBC sever its ties with the Fox News Channel. It is also asking that presidential candidates reject the Fox debate in favor of the CBC's CNN debate, which has also been scheduled.
Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes issued a statement saying, "Fox News is proud to work with the CBC Institute in 2007 as we did in 2003...for the candidates to present their ideas and allow voters to make informed decisions.
The issue is bigger than that, says James Rucker, executive director of ColorofChange.org.
"The CBC cannot claim to represent Black Americans and at the same time legitimize a network that calls Black churches a cult, implies that Barack Obama is a terrorist, and uses the solemn occasion of Coretta Scott King's funeral to call Black leaders 'racist,'" says Rucker.
"I am disappointed by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute's partnership with FOX," said Jackson in an interview with ColorOfChange.org. "And strongly encourage them to reverse that decision. Why would presidential candidates, or an organization that is supposed to advocate for Black Americans, ever give a stamp of legitimacy to a network that continually marginalizes Black leaders and the Black community? FOX moderating a presidential debate on issues of importance to Black Americans is literally letting the Fox guard the henhouse- Fox should be rejected."
This CBC Institute's decision came even after Black Members of Congress were contacted through emails and phone calls by nearly 12,000 activists from ColorOfChange.org, an online lobbying group aimed at promoting and resolving issues effecting Black Americans.
The growing criticism is largely in the form of an online petition from ColorOfChange.org. Launched on March 30th, The petition demands that the CBC sever its ties with the Fox News Channel. It is also asking that presidential candidates reject the Fox debate in favor of the CBC's CNN debate, which has also been scheduled.
Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes issued a statement saying, "Fox News is proud to work with the CBC Institute in 2007 as we did in 2003...for the candidates to present their ideas and allow voters to make informed decisions.
The issue is bigger than that, says James Rucker, executive director of ColorofChange.org.
"The CBC cannot claim to represent Black Americans and at the same time legitimize a network that calls Black churches a cult, implies that Barack Obama is a terrorist, and uses the solemn occasion of Coretta Scott King's funeral to call Black leaders 'racist,'" says Rucker.
# posted by ATN @ 12:19 PM
