Tuesday, July 27
WRAP: A Summary Of Today, July 27
If you only read one TVNewser post today, read this one. All of today's broadcast news in 53 words:
1: July ratings show FNC on top; 2: ...but CNN was #1 Monday night; 3: The evening news ratings wars continue; 4: O'Reilly and Michael Moore face off; 5: a Q&A with CNN's Judy Woodruff; 6: Dan Rather is bored; 7: Ron Reagan challenges journalistic standards; 8: MSNBC's challenge to Google News.
A closing thought from Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC.com: "So far today, we've filed for MSNBC, MSNBC.com, Nightly News, our new mobile phone uplink and now onto Hardball. We have the platforms — now to find the story!"
Convention Circus: Intersection Of Journos & Celebs
> Crowds were surrounding the FNC studio when O'Reilly interviewed Ben Affleck, I hear. "It was a total mob scene," an e-mailer says. "People were gasping for air just to touch him. It was totally like a movie premiere." Michael Moore didn't attract anywhere near that amount of attention...> Overheard in the crowd watching MSNBC's David Shuster: "He looks like he should be doing sportscasting, not NEWScasting."
> Command Post says the Hardball producer is "haranguing the pro-Kerry crowd" outside Faneuil Hall: "Come on Democrats ⦠act indignant!"
> The NBC interns swooned when Chris Jansing taped an interview with The O.C.'s Benjamin McKenzie in NBC's workspace, MSNBC.com says.
Olbermann Writes About FNC's Democratic Guests
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann takes aim at FOX News again tonight on the Hardblogger: "My beef tonight is with his first two guests: Ben Affleck and Jerry Brown," Keith says. "I know that if neither of them agreed to be the sparring partner for O'Reilly as he drowned Kennedy out, somebody else would. And that they think they're somehow bringing the argument on to foreign territory, and perhaps win a few converts. But therein lies the crux of the conundrum that is the Democrats' contention that FNC is not just biased, but also an extra little devil head growing off the body of the Republican Party. Every Democrat who agrees to appear on that network helps support it, helps it argue (falsely or accurately) that it is not partisan." More...Ron Reagan: Journalist? Commentator? Activist?
Let me step up on my soapbox for a sec. MSNBC is treading lightly on traditional standards of journalism. Ron Reagan will address the Democratic convention tonight, speaking on the topic of stem cell research. Two hours later, he will co-anchor an MSNBC talk show. Does anyone else feel queasy about this?Reagan was on Hardball at 6 (then left at 6:30 for speech prep). Chrs Matthews will interview him immediately after the speech, this press release says. Reagan is an "MSNBC political analyst," so isn't MSNBC paying for this "exclusive interview?" And he is more than an "analyst" -- he is a show host (After Hours), a "special correspondent" (reporting live across from the "free speech zone" on MSNBC Sunday), and an interviewer (Michael Moore, yesterday).
"I am hearing so many complaints from people watching MSNBC," The Corner said yesterday. "Is he a journalist or commentator?" MSNBC representatives did not respond to three e-mails asking for comment. I could invoke the legacies of Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow here, and ask if they would have ever spoken at a political convention. But it's not necessary. This is common sense. And this lack of journalistic integrity demonstrated by MSNBC is a very slippery slope.
> Update: From an e-mailer: "You're really not comparing Ron Reagan to Edward R. Murrow, are you? A political analyst is NOT wearing a journalist's cap." Correct -- but by calling him a "special correspondent," sending him on live shots, and having him tape packages, he pretends to practice "journalism."
> Update: This post was clarified on Wednesday; the post-speech interview was not an MSNBC "exclusive."
Convention Coverage: Tidbits From 8 To 11pm
> 10:08pm: All the cablers aired Obama's and Reagan's speeches in full> 9:30pm: Michael Reagan appeared on Hannity & Colmes to scold his brother Ron
> 9:08pm: Dean's speech received blockade coverage from start to finish on all three cablers.
> 8:59pm: "Once one journalist breaks the embargo, then everyone can break the embargo!," Wolf Blitzer told Larry King on CNN. Thankfully Drudge isn't a journalist...
> 8:56pm: O'Reilly said Howard Dean "has repeatedly declined to speak with us." But Dean was omnipresent on cable yesterday! Meanwhile, Countdown whipped out the SCREAM just before 9pm...
> 8:40pm: FNC left Kennedy's speech 10 minutes early to talk to Jerry Brown. MSNBC was the only channel to air snippets of Gephardt's speech.
Convention Circus: Behind The Scenes In Boston
> FOXNews.com has a must-read Reporter's Notebook from Boston, describing crazy taxi rides, freezing-cold offices, long lines and hostile interviewees!> A CNN.com blogger describes the network's temporary "jerry-rigged" offices: "Temporary walls, wires and cables running from floor to ceiling, a white vinyl shower-curtain material stapled to tables littered with computers, phones, tape recorders, bottles of water and yesterday's McDonald's trash." No wonder David Bohrman and co. are coordinating from Atlanta!
> Last night in Boston, "delegates were asked to stand for the official convention portrait, facing the electronic clock 'next to the Fox News banner,' the AZ Republic says. "They dutifully stood, and spontaneously booed."
> "My hero is Jon Stewart," Chris Matthews tells TV Guide. "If I could ever get his audience..."
Ben Affleck Impresses Hardball Viewers
A few hours ago I criticized Ben Affleck's mob of media attention, but I was wrong. He's quite the pundit! "I am floored by how well spoken and articulate Affleck is right now on Hardball," an e-mailer says. "I had no idea he was this engaged and engaging." "Give Ben a job!," one Hardblogger comment says. "You have a stunningly developed political mind," Chris said at the end of the interview. Watch the video here.Convention Ratings: FNC Triples Ratings Since 2000
This afternoon, Nielsen released an Excel chart full of ratings comparisons to prior conventions. While CNN came in first place last night, it should be noted that FNC is up the most -- 306 percent -- compared to the first night of the 2000 Dem's convention. "Fox News Channel is the only network to show an improvement this year; in 2000, it earned a 0.4/1," Broadcasting & Cable says. Back in 2000, even MSNBC beat FNC...Convention Circus: Dan Rather Is Bored
Leave it to Dan Rather to come up with the perfect metaphor for the conventions: "At one time they were kind of like the Super Bowl in a presidential campaign year," he tells Ed Bark. "They're now like a preseason NFL game." Rather says he would "shorten the conventions to two days, hold them on weekends and convene them at a time of year when a larger pool of viewers might be available."Kaplan "Glad Not To Be Trapped In FleetCenter"
Howard Kurtz ran into MSNBC prez Rick Kaplan last night: He was pacing near the Faneuil Hall set, "giving orders on his cell phone. He told me he was glad not to be trapped in FleetCenter, to have the network's coverage based here among the crowds and the shops. I told him there was another advantage: The food was better."> The competition is in the MSNBC audience. From the Newsweek blog: "Yesterday, Newsweek spied a cadre of more than 20 CNN interns, wearing the networkâs 'Convention 2004' logo t-shirts, standing amid the outdoor audience."
> Update: 10:04am Wed.: Hopefully they were there on their own time: CNN's interns policy states that they are "not to do anything that does not directly relate to them learning about being journalists," a former manager tells TVNewser...
What To Watch: A "Heavyweight Bout" On FNC
Conventioneers are buzzing about tonight's O'Reilly Factor interview with Michael Moore. Drudge tried to spoil tonight's Bill O'Reilly/Michael Moore showdown by posting an embargoed transcript of the segment. But it has just made me more likely to tune in:| MOORE: Say 'I Bill O'Reilly would sacrifice my child to secure Fallujah' O'REILLY: I'm not going to say what you say, you're a, that's ridiculous MOORE: You don't believe that. Why should Bush sacrifice the children of people across America for this? |
Convention Circus: Ben Affleck, Political Pundit?
Ben Affleck is a busy boy. He interviewed the Kerry sisters. He's playing 'Hardball' and dropping by 'Nightline' tonight. And he popped up on CNN yesterday, where Larry King treated him "like a regular political pundit," the Hotline notes: "Here's a sampling of Larry King's questions: What'd you think of tonight, Ben, overall? ... Ben, did you get the impression that Clinton being so good, if he was that good, puts more pressure on Kerry Thursday? ... You've been on a duck boat, Ben?"Convention Ratings: A Potpourri Of Cable Items
Talk about foreshadowing: "It's possible that CNN will win the ratings here," Brit Hume said on Sunday. "If we don't win here, people will say, 'You see, it's a right-wing network.' But if we go to New York and win the Republican convention, will people say the same thing about CNN that they'd say about us? I wonder." We'll be wondering until September. Meanwhile, some other ratings data:> Between 8 and 11pm, CNN averaged 1.8, FNC had 1.4, and MSNBC saw 1.0. (By contrast, on the first night in 2000, CNN averaged 1.4, MSNBC averaged 0.5, and FNC had 0.4.)
> Drudge reports that CNN earned a 2.2 at 10pm, while FOX's maximum rating was 1.6 and MSNBC's was 1.2.
> Putting it in context: The three cablers, together, averaged 3.5 million viewers. The broadcast nets averaged over 4 million each.
Convention Ratings: CNN Declares Night 1 Victory
Quoting the press release sent to reporters at 4:54pm:> "CNN's audience the first night of the convention was 24% higher than the first night in the 2000 DNC."
> "CNN outdelivered Fox News and MSNBC in total viewers and P25-54 in prime time during the first night of the DNC."
Continue: Convention Ratings: CNN Press Release
Convention Ratings: Nielsen's Handy Dandy Chart
From approximately 10 to 11pm [slight spillover due to Clinton]:| Networks | Rating | Share | # of Homes | # of P2+ |
| ABC | 3.1 | 5 | 3,348,000 | 4,403,000 |
| CBS | 3.2 | 5 | 3,450,000 | 4,552,000 |
| NBC | 3.3 | 5 | 3,612,000 | 4,532,000 |
| CNN | 1.8 | 3 | 1,947,000 | 2,545,000 |
| FNC | 0.9 | 2 | 1,023,000 | 1,443,000 |
| MSNBC* | 0.7 | 1 | 763,000 | 1,012,000 |
Cable Ratings: #'s For Each & Every Show
FNC occupies the #1, #2, #3, #4, and this month the #5 spot -- no big surprise there. As usual, it's more fun to look lower down on this show ratings chart. Some folks complain Aaron Brown is dull, but he still has the #2 show on CNN. Paula Zahn continues to linger in the 0.5 range. Interestingly, CNN's mid-day show "Live From" is performing better than the prime-time "360." (By the way, there's a tie in the Hardball/360 duel: Chris Matthews averaged [only 6,000] more persons 2+, but Anderson Cooper had more households.) CNBC's 'McEnroe' is the lowest-rated show in primetime...> Chart: Cable Program Ratings, July 2004
Cable Ratings: Total Day, Year-Ago #'s
CNBC's ratings have dropped 50% from the year-ago data, while MSNBC and CNN's ratings are flat, this chart demonstrates. FNC's spin, from their press release: "MSNBC's 204,000 viewers combined averages fell well short of FNC's average. In Prime Time, CNN's 734,000 viewers combined with MSNBC's 315,000 viewers did not touch FNC's Prime Time dominance of 1,388,000 viewers."> Chart: July '03 vs. July '04 Ratings
Evening News Ratings: NBC #1 (Barely), While ABC Claims More "Ad-Friendly" 25-54 Viewers
NBC and ABC are locked in an epic struggle: The battle for evening news supremacy. Last week, Nightly News averaged 6,530,000 viewers, while World News Tonight averaged 6,347,000. (The CBS Evening News only had 5,196,000.) ABC's press release notes that WNT was "the number one evening newscast among Adults 25-54 for the second consecutive week." It's neck and neck...> Update: 1:51pm: "Viewers continue to turn to 'Nightly News' when news breaks," NBC's press release says. The day the 9/11 Commission report came out, NBC "attracted 9.555 million total viewers, ABC was way behind with a 7.628 million, and CBS had 6.590 million viewers."
Cable Ratings: FNC Owns The Top 5
It's time for July ratings. The details will come out later this afternoon, but here's what I am hearing so far. FNC's ratings are up the most in total day viewers, while CNN and MSNBC seem flat, a source says. (FNC staffers have been attributing the ratings increase to the buzz from 'Outfoxed.') FNC has the top five shows in cable this month, for the first time since the war; Greta Van Susteren beat Larry King for the first time since 2003, despite King's big-name interviews.> Also: Court TV says it had the "most-watched prime July" in its history. "The network has grown an astounding +399% since July 1999"...
Convention Q&A: Judy Woodruff, CNN
In a Q&A with TVNewser, Judy Woodruff, the anchor of CNN's "Inside Politics," says improvements in communications and technology are a double-edged sword:| "...We in the news media have to be more careful to get our facts straight. It's easier than ever to get caught up in a blizzard of criticisms aimed in each direction..and we need to keep our heads about us, and remember the viewers, our audience, deserve the straight facts." |
Continue: Q&A: Judy Woodruff, CNN
> Also: CNN.com has a "day in the life" feature on Woodruff
"Ratings Free-Fall" For Broadcast Nets?
Drudge calls last night the "big yawn," and based on Monday night's broadcast ratings, he is right on the money. "Networks in ratings free-fall at convention, opening night all-time low," he says. The first # is the rating, the second # is the share:| ABC: 2004: 3.5 / 5 2000: 4.5 / 8 | NBC: 2004: 3.3 / 5 2000: 4.8 / 9 | CBS: 2004: 3.2 / 5 2000: 3.8 / 7 |
Brokaw: "I Want To Disappear For A While"
USA Today discusses Tom Brokaw's last hurrah, along with a bunch of paragraphs about politics. "Shortly after the election, Brokaw will go gentle into that good night — at least temporarily," Peter Johnson writes. "I want to disappear for a while, to clear out and give Brian space for clear sailing for at least a couple of months, maybe longer, at least through the inauguration. I want to let him have his fair chance at establishing his identity as anchor, the guy who is going to be steering the ship during big coverage," Tom says...Coverage Was "Stimulated & Underfocused"
"Most of Night One coverage of the Democratic National Convention seemed over stimulated and underfocused," Poynter's Karen Dunlap blogs. "Could you just let me hear the rest of Jimmy Carterâs speech? Could you let Patty LaBelle finish singing the song before you cut away? Okay, the panel of women senators is more photo op than compelling rhetoric, but is your panel-talk a significant improvement? Could we just settle down a bit?"...Another Column About FNC's Priorities
"I was going to talk about Fox News's coverage of Al Gore's speech, but the fair-and-balanced network blew off the former veep's speech in favor of Bill O'Reilly," Howard Kurtz writes. "This is the kind of thing that makes critics question whether Fox has a Republican agenda." But as Howie says, keeping O'Reilly on will probably ensure an FNC ratings win...Convention Coverage: Columnists, Critics Weigh In
> David Bianculli liked: Ron Reagan's MSNBC interview with Michael Moore; PBS's refreshing discussion; and "Brokaw in Boston." He didn't like: CNN's platform; "Crossfire" from the parking lot; and FOX's Lori Hacking obsession.> From the Dallas Morning News: "Deeming Mr. Brokaw a bit punchy from anchoring too long, [Jon] Stewart cracked, 'Nobody should sit like this unless they're raising money for a disease.' Little did he know how little time Mr. Brokaw and his broadcast contemporaries had spent on the air."
> Salon offers a timeline of Monday coverage, and says it was "slanted skeptically against the Democrats -- except for Fox, which couldn't bear to show most of the event."
New Promos For ABC, NBC, MSNBC
"ABC News, NBC News and MSNBC are rolling out new promotional campaigns," TVWeekreports. ABC's spots will promote Peter Jennings under the tagline "because trust is earned" — a jab at BW. New ads for 'Today' and GMA are also rolling out. And MSNBC will unveil new spots this week "in which real people talk about what MSNBC does day in and day out."
> Also: The Hotline noticed on Monday that "FNC has full page ads in both the Boston Herald and the Boston Globe," along with billboards around town. CNN had a full page ad in USA Today...
