Regrettable is the word that comes to mind as we survey the performance of cable news outlets in recent weeks. Their coverage of the anti-tax “tea parties” on April 15 illustrates the extent to which self-described news outlets have departed from their mission and turned to theater. We (quixotically...
It’s time again for TelevisionWeek ’s list of the 10 Most Powerful in TV News. This year’s report card comes at an awkward time: Election-year performances can’t be ignored, and yet they already seem a distant memory, as the industry is roiled by the same economic turmoil as the rest of the nation. While...
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Sun, Apr 19 2009
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Filed under: Broadcast, Cable, Digital, Phil Griffin, Univision, Print Edition, CNN, Jon Klein, NBC News, Comedy Central, Sean McManus, Fox News Channel, Steve Capus, ABC News, Stephen Colbert, CBS News, Jeff Zucker, Jon Stewart, Roger Ailes, Newspro, Jim Walton, Ken Jautz, Huffington Post, David Westin, Fox Television Stations Group, N.S. Bienstock, Mark Hoffman
At CNN, ratings points are evaporating. At corporate sibling HLN, audiences are building. But HLN boss Ken Jautz says he’s not a cannibal. Rather, it’s that his network offers a different flavor of content than CNN. During primetime Monday through Sunday last quarter, HLN averaged 655,000 total viewers...
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Sun, Apr 5 2009
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Filed under: Cable, MSNBC, Print Edition, CNN, Fox News Channel, TV Ratings, HLN, Showbiz Tonight, Nancy Grace, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Ken Jautz, Issues With Jane Velez-Mitchell
The long and hard-fought presidential election proved to be the gift that kept on giving for cable news channels in 2008, with all enjoying year-to-year ratings growth. After Barack Obama’s historic presidential victory, ratings began to return to earth, but Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC all racked...
Background: Ms. Kelly was a corporate litigator before becoming a general-assignment reporter for ABC-affiliated WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., where her assignments included the D.C. sniper case. TV News Talent Searching for TV’s News Elite . . . More » Joel Brown . . . More » Seth Doane . . . More »...
The television world is Sarah Palin’s oyster. Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren clinched the first interview with the former Republican vice presidential candidate. But TV’s talk and news heavyweights all want the Alaska governor: Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, Oprah Winfrey, the ladies of ABC’s “The View...
The Insider had planned to wait a bit longer to do her exit interview with Fox News Channel “Special Report” anchor and Washington managing editor Brit Hume. The newsman is getting ready to retire after 12 years at the network, where he was a founding and defining personality. But she was struck by how...
I was flying over “ruby red” Utah last Tuesday when the television networks called the presidential election for Sen. Barack Obama. We’d already had our first beverage and snack service—animal crackers, Terra chips and a Doritos snack mix among the choices—and the JetBlue flight from New York to Oakland...
Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith says, “Chatting about politics is not my favorite thing.” He wearies of “the chattering classes” that have been a staple of news coverage of the two-year presidential campaign. He likes the Big Story, and this presidential election certainly is “one for the history...
It’s politics-palooza time as the Democrats and Republicans prepare to descend on Denver and St. Paul, Minn., for back-to-back nominating conventions at which the media outnumbers delegates. In the spirit of public service, TelevisionWeek breaks down, in alphabetical order, the most significant national...
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Sun, Aug 17 2008
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Filed under: Broadcast, Cable, ABC, PBS, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Print Edition, CNN, BBC America, Univsion, Fox News Channel, CSPAN, Conventions, TV One, Fox Business Network, Telemundo