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
Robert Feder leaves the Sun Times(Sun Times) This is a shocker, and it's a BIG deal to the Chicago media community. Robert Feder writes: "For close to three decades now, I've been telling you about the comings and goings of media people in Chicago. It's been quite a parade. Today I have some news to share about myself: I'll be leaving the Sun-Times in the next few weeks. There's still some paperwork to be completed and a final date to be determined, but I wanted you to hear it from me first, and I wanted to explain my decision in my own words. Thanks to a deal worked out between the Sun-Times and the union representing newsroom employees, those of us who've been here 25 years or more were offered the option to step down with a full year's pay and benefits. The more I thought about it, the more I came to see it as a great opportunity. After devoting all of my energy to covering the same beat for 28 years, I'll be able to take a break, step back and think about what else I want to do. Maybe I'll continue in journalism or maybe I'll pursue something completely different. I have no idea what's next. But I'm excited about having the luxury to take my time and see what's out there."
His readers respond to the shocking news
Chicagoland Radio & Media pays tribute
The Infinite Dial pays tribute
(Rick's note: This is not a good thing for Chicago's media community. He covered the radio and television business as a legitimate beat. I suspect he may not be replaced, and radio and television in Chicago will take one more step down in prestige. For me personally, I'm just going to miss reading him every day--which is what I e-mailed him to say.)
More on Feder's Departure
(Radio-Info.com) Tom Taylor writes: "Today’s column explains to his readers and the industry why he’s taking advantage of a buyout offer from the company, and leaving after 28 years of being the must-read TV/Radio columnist. Just think about that "28 years" for a second, because it’s literally many generations of TV and radio executives, performers and other staffers who’ve been welcomed to town and/or to their jobs, evaluated along the way, sometimes skewered when Feder (“feeder”) felt it was appropriate, and always (I think) given their due. Same for formats and strategies. The buyout allows Feder to see what other opportunities lie ahead for a superb writer and journalist. His institutional memory of the market and professionalism will be missed...The radio industry is all the poorer for losing folks like that, as newspapers try to survive in a falling media economy - but risk losing the things that make them special and 'must-have.' Doesn’t radio face the same dilemma?"
CLICK HERENational Press and McCain campaign have major blow up
(TV Newser) This all happened on Tuesday. The McCain campaign didn't want any coverage of Palin's meeting with the Afghan president, insisting it was strictly a wordless photo op. When the press said "fine, we won't take pictures either," the campaign relented. TV Newser has the play by play of the day. Has there ever been a presidential campaign that didn't think it had to deal with the press before? Like it or not, the press represents us. If you don't answer their questions, you aren't answering ours. If you think it's right for the nation to decide whether or not to vote for someone we didn't even know a month ago (Palin) without subjecting her to questions from the press, then you don't deserve a vote. It's as simple as that. If she can't handle the press, she can't handle the job.
Watch Campbell Brown of CNN unload on McCain's sexist "protection" of Palin
Major Media Outlets fight FCC on ads(Variety) William Triplett writes: "The MPAA, the parent companies of the Big Four nets and other biz heavyweights have told the Federal Communications Commission that there’s no need for new disclosure rules regarding product placement on the smallscreen. In a joint filing responding to a recent FCC request for public comments on the issue, 18 major media concerns argued that existing disclosure requirements, which have been in place for decades, are sufficient and well established. The group’s filing asserted that product placement has a long history in TV and that, if anything, more product placement is needed to allow nets to offset declining profit margins."
Les Moonves wants to put newspapers out of business
(Wired) Meghan Keane writes: "Leslie Moonves says the purchase of CNET instantly made CBS a major player in the digital realm -- and delights in his company's contribution to the death of the daily newspaper. CBS aims to leverage its purchase of the technology network to shift the company away from being an old media company: 'We could build over the course of a decade, or buy CNET and become instantaneously a major player,' the CBS president and CEO told an audience at MIXX 2.8, The Interactive Advertising Bureau's annnual advertising conference. The CBS CEO plans to position his company as a one stop shop for news and information, potentially eliminating the need for dead tree media. 'One of the advantages of the Internet is we’re taking money away from the newspapers,' he said gleefully."
Judge rules Dan Rather can sue CBS(Bloomberg) Patricia Hurtado writes: "Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather can proceed with a $70 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against his former employer for firing him, a New York judge ruled. New York Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman in Manhattan said today that Rather can sue over claims the network damaged his reputation when it fired him as managing editor of the CBS Evening News. Gammerman ruled that Rather can't sue CBS Corp. for fraud, or the broadcaster and one-time parent Viacom Inc. on claims they interfered with his contract. 'I think the breach-of-contract claim is essentially a slam dunk, there's no defense to that,' Rather's lawyer, Martin Gold, said outside the courtroom. 'They had fiduciary obligations to Dan and they breached them.'"
Lehrer ready for the debate
(Baltimore Sun) David Zurawick writes: "One of the happiest developments in this increasingly partisan and hotly contested election is the fact that PBS' Jim Lehrer, the most trusted anchorperson on TV, will moderate the first presidential debate Friday night in Oxford, Miss. If there is anyone in TV news who serves as a model for checking your ego at the dressing room door and trying to serve the public first when you are onstage, it's the 74-year-old newsman who will be at the helm of his 10th presidential debate when he stands between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. In an interview this week with The Baltimore Sun, Lehrer was crystal clear in his goals as moderator. He also talked about his health and concerns he has about journalists presenting ideologically charged commentary instead of verified facts and information to viewers -- especially during this once-in-a-lifetime election. 'The goal in the debate is to be a catalyst, really,' Lehrer says. 'It's about the candidates. It isn't about the moderator. It isn't about pressing the candidates. It's to make it possible for the people who are running for president to exchange their ideas rather than to bounce off mine.'"
CLICK HERE
Congress looking into PPM controversy
(Radio Ink) Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have written to Arbitron Chairman/President/CEO Steve Morris to express their concern about Arbitron's plan to expand the commercialization of the Portable People Meter. They write, "We encourage you to take all steps available, prior to rolling out the PPM system in additional markets, to ensure that the system accurately measures the listening behavior in a market and no station is unfairly harmed."
(Rick's note: This is all about the poor performance of minority radio stations using the new measuring technique. But what if the new system is more accurate, and it turns out that minority stations have been getting inflated ratings for the past twenty years? I hate to say it, but it looks like that may be the case.)
Billoreilly.com is hacked(Wired) Kim Zetter writes: "A hacker claims to have cracked the web site of Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly and purloined a list of subscribers to the site, which includes their names, e-mail addresses, city and state, and the password they use for their registration to the site. The attack was retaliation for comments that O'Reilly made on the air this week about web sites that published e-mails obtained from the Yahoo account of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, according to a press release distributed by WikiLeaks late Friday. The hacker sent WikiLeaks a screenshot of O'Reilly's subscriber list as proof of the deed, which WikiLeaks has posted online."
The 2008 Emmy Awards: "Embarrassing"
(Chicago Tribune) Maureen Ryan writes: "Someone thought it would be a good idea for five – count 'em, five – different reality-TV hosts to come out at the start of Sunday's Emmy broadcast on ABC and talk about how they didn’t have anything to say. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be fired. Not that the winners weren’t deserving – the worthy 30 Rock, Damages and Mad Men won big, while (thank goodness) Boston Legal won nothing – but much of the rest of the ceremony was embarrassing, terrible or both. And now Rob Lowe can finally consider his 19-year-old Snow White Oscar duet forgotten. TV has a new train wreck to make fun of, in the form of the 2008 Emmy broadcast that aired on Sunday."
Although...this was a highlight
CLICK HEREThe CBS Radio auction
(New York Post) Peter Lauria writes: "CBS' strategy in selling the stations is to slim down its radio unit to focus on the nation's Top 20 markets. But there are some who think CBS would be better off jettisoning the entire radio division in one shot rather than selling some stations now and deciding what to do with the others later. 'The radio business is a melting ice cube,' said RBC Capital Markets' David Bank. 'While the cash flow is valuable, CBS would be better off selling the [whole] asset today instead of waiting a couple of years and selling the rest for less.'"
Mini Interview: Bobby Skafish
(Chicago Radio Spotlight) Every week I'm featuring excerpts from my SHORE Magazine article about 14 local radio voices. This week: WDRV's Bobby Skafish
Chicago Radio Spotlight interview: Alan Cox(Chicago Radio Spotlight) This weekend I spoke with the former "Morning Fix" co-host, Alan Cox. We talked about his noble experiment (The Morning Fix), and his plans for the future. Coming this weekend: WGN's Brian Noonan.
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