Collected and Edited by Rick Kaempfer
Highlights and links to the big stories in the news this week about the media. This column appears twice a week at MEDIA NOTEBOOK
Thousands join President in mourning Russert(Associated Press) Thousands of friends, colleagues and strangers joined President Bush and his wife, Laura, in paying respects on Tuesday to Tim Russert. Several hundred people were in line more than an hour before the early afternoon start of the wake at St. Albans School, an elite private boys school on the grounds of Washington National Cathedral in Northwest Washington. Many had never met the host of the Sunday-morning talk show "Meet the Press."
How can you replace a Tim Russert?
(New York Times) Carter and Steinberg write: "The sudden death of Tim Russert has left the management of NBC News, for the moment at least, at a loss to contemplate how to replace him. Mr. Russert was not only the moderator of “Meet the Press,” television’s most successful political talk show, he was also the chief of NBC’s Washington bureau, responsible for the hiring of staff members and directing its operations. More significantly, he was NBC’s public face on politics, appearing regularly on the network’s full range of programs, including the “Today” show, NBC’s “Nightly News,” and on its cable news channel MSNBC.”
I wrote about my reaction to Russert's passing in my column at NWI Parent
LinkedIn is worth $1 billion(Financial Times) OK, if you say so. I'm a member, but I don't really get the value. Then again, isn't Bain Capital the moronic group that overpaid for Clear Channel? Richard Waters writes: "The biggest online social network intended for professional use has been valued at more than $1bn, putting it among a small group of private internet companies to have crossed that threshold before going public. LinkedIn, whose members use the site to do things such as making professional contacts, recruiting staff or finding new jobs, said it had raised $53m from a group of venture capitalists led by Bain Capital, taking the total raised to $80m in all. The latest investment, for about 5 per cent of the company, gives LinkedIn a “pre-money” valuation of $1.015bn, said Dan Nye, chief executive.
Hulu is kicking YouTube's ass
(Blog Maverick) Mark Cuban writes on his blog: "It is coming up on 2 years post my declaration that only a moron would buy Youtube and that Google was crazy for actually going through with it. In that period of time, while Youtube traffic has skyrocketed, they have been steadfast in their admission that they haven't been able to monetize Youtube's traffic in a profitable manner. Youtube has become the poster child for the old saying "we are losing money on every sale, but we will make it up in volume". To the Youtube fan club, its inconceivable that any website with so much traffic and marketshare could be in anything but an enviable position. The fan boys would be increasingly wrong. The Youtube business model is broken and there is no light at the end of the tunnel as they are currently constructed. The reason is Hulu. Hulu doesn't serve up more videos than Youtube. They aren't even remotely close in number of total users or videos served. But there is one area in which Hulu is just stomping up and down Youtube, and another in which Hulu is laughing at Youtube all the way to bank."
CLICK HERE
After 74 years, FCC starting to flex muscles
(NY Sun) Harold Furchtgott-Roth writes: "June 19th marks the 74th anniversary of the Communications Act of 1934, the legal framework for federal regulation of all manner of communications through the Federal Communications Commission. After 74 years, most Americans have more yesterdays than tomorrows. Does the same hold for the FCC? By many accounts, the FCC is just beginning to flex its muscles. During its first 60 years, the FCC was one of the more obscure federal agencies. In recent years, however, editorial pages — some with praise, some with a tut-tut, and some with uncontrolled hysterics — have commented frequently on FCC decisions, or lack thereof."
House Subcommittee votes to block ownership changes
(Radio Online) A House subcommittee voted Tuesday to block the FCC's actions in December that loosened the 30-year-old broadcast/newspaper cross-ownership ban in the top 20 markets. The provision is part of a spending bill that funds the FCC and would deny the Commission funding to implement the rule. In May, the Senate passed a "resolution of disapproval" introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND).
Karmazin’s frustration over the XM+Sirius hangup is palpable(Radio-info.com) Tom Taylor writes: "He thought he made sufficient concessions to the right people to get the merger done – so he can run the combined satellite company – but tough players like the Congressional Black Caucus still aren’t satisfied. Neither is FCC Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps. Interestingly, American Public Media’s Bill Kling has his own strong view, according to the Washington Post: He wants spectrum out of the merged companies dedicated to “education, discussion, news, debate and public affairs programming” – just as the FCC once reserved the lower part of the FM band for non-commercial stations. I’ve said before that Mel may look back on this tortured deal and deem it the most challenging business proposition of his entire career – harder than Westinghouse/CBS, or CBS/Viacom, or anything else he’s been involved in."
(Rick's note: It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.)
ABC Renews Jimmy Kimmel
(Variety) Michael Schneider writes: "ABC is extending its option with latenight host Jimmy Kimmel by another year, keeping him at the network through at least 2010. Decision to exercise an early extension comes as Kimmel has received positive attention for his "Jimmy Kimmel Live Game Night" series of post-NBA Finals specials, which included a now-famous fist bump Sunday with presidential candidate Barack Obama. Rival candidate John McCain was scheduled to appear on Kimmel's show following Tuesday's NBA game. Those "Game Night" specials have averaged 3 million viewers, giving the show a bit more exposure than its usual aud."
CLICK HERE
Chicago Tribune faces default risk
(Bloomberg) Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune controlling investor Sam Zell may be unable to stop the loss of advertising revenue leading him and other U.S. newspaper publishers closer to default on billions of dollars in debt. Zell's Tribune Co., even with attempts to shore up the company's cash by selling assets and debt, could face default by the end of the year, Standard & Poor's analyst Emile Courtney said on June 13 in New York.
Tribune plans safety net for TV stations(TV Week) Pursell and Lafayette write: "The Tribune Co., which owns 23 television stations, is beefing up its library of programming, providing the company flexibility either to launch a new national broadcast network or invigorate the slate of its rebranded WGN America channel. The contingency plans are being spurred in part by concern about the future of the company’s 15 CW affiliates, multiple people at Tribune said. The CW, which went live in 2006, has stumbled in the ratings. Should it not be able to return to the air for the 2009-2010 season, Tribune doesn’t want its CW outlets to have to scramble for programming."
Chicago Sun-Times contemplates going private
(Chicago Sun Times) David Roeder writes; "The parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times has enough cash for two to three years of operations despite ongoing declines in advertising revenue, its chief executive officer said Tuesday. Cyrus Freidheim Jr. said at the annual meeting of Sun-Times Media Group Inc. that it is reviewing offers from potential buyers and would consider a transaction that takes the publicly traded company private. Such a deal could be structured so that some major shareholders retain an ownership stake. Freidheim noted that the company has some financial advantages compared with other media operations. Sun-Times has no debt except for an unresolved tax liability and has about $120 million in cash. 'We cannot predict what the market will be over the next 12 months. But we’re ready for the worst,' he told shareholders. 'We have the cash to weather the worst storms over the next two to three years.'”
A tip for local newscasters...if you are particularly naive, always run the e-mails by a segment producer before you read them on the air.
Joan Rivers ejected from British TV show for dropping the F-Bomb
(Defamer) Joan Rivers stopped by British talk show Loose Women today to plug the West End debut of her one-woman show; Women then took the extreme measure of ejecting Rivers from their studio after she let fly a two-megaton F&S Bomb in describing Russell Crowe. Rivers later explained how she mistakenly thought the world in which she moves is on permanent seven-second delay. (See the video at the link)
Is Keith Olbermann changing TV News?(New Yorker) Peter J. Boyer writes: "Capus and Griffin insist that Olbermann’s broadcast is like an opinion section in a newspaper, suitable to what they call MSNBC’s “cable sensibility.” Olbermann differs. He begins each “Countdown” with the Beethoven theme from NBC’s “Huntley-Brinkley Report,” and concludes with Murrow’s signature sign-off, “Good night, and good luck.” He maintains that “Countdown” is very much part of that continuum. “It is a newscast with commentary and analysis, the way most really good newscasts used to be,” he says. “Dosages of the various components vary in a greater degree than we’re used to, or maybe were even done in the heyday of this kind of thing. But if you listen to those daily Murrow newscasts in the forties on the radio, Murrow would do the news, two and a half, three minutes, take a break, and then do a two- or three-minute commentary.” It could be argued that Murrow’s work in wartime London—he would report on the Battle of Britain, and also advocate against continued American neutrality in the war—is hardly the same thing as telling the President to “shut the hell up,’’ or posing the question regarding Bush (as Olbermann did): “Pathological Presidential Liar or an Idiot-in-Chief?”
Lanny Davis signs with Fox
(Washington Post) Howard Kurtz writes: "Fox News's newest contributor, to be announced today, may surprise the liberal crowd: former Clinton White House lawyer Lanny Davis. 'Fox has always treated me with respect and given me a chance to express my point of view,' Davis says of the network that the Democratic candidates refused to grant a debate out of concern that it favors Republicans. He will be a frequent guest, along with such Fox stalwarts as Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich. A relentless surrogate for Hillary Clinton, Davis says, he felt 'ganged up on' during appearances on the other cable channels. He says that Clinton was 'demonized' by MSNBC's Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, and that CNN's primary-night panels were tilted toward the Obama side. 'Does Fox have a conservative slant on some of their programs? Yes,' Davis says. 'They're giving me a chance to provide a counterpoint, and that's all I can ask.'"
Chicago Radio Spotlight interview with Jim Smith(Chicago Radio Spotlight) Last weekend I spoke with famed music programmer "Jukebox Jimmy" Jim Smith. We had a long conversation about the way he picked music for WLS in the 1970s heyday, as well as his stints at BBM-FM and WJMK. This weekend I'll be speaking with B-96 night jock Julian.
Something Jim Smith suggested in the interview happened today
