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Saturday, January 31, 2009

Reactions and Realities


Tuesday, Stan Grant had early reaction to President Obama's al-Arabiya interview:




And on Tuesday's AC360, Nic Robertson (in London) had a pre-recorded piece about Saudi hopes for a new relationship with our new president, after which Anderson Cooper asked Peter Bergen (in NOLA) and Reza Aslan (in LA) about whether the interview would resonate in the Muslim world:


Wednesday, Zain Verjee was in The Situation Room to discuss Iranian reaction to the interview:


So... what about the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan? On Wednesday, Christiane Amanpour (in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Summit) spoke to John Roberts about that:


That evening, Chris Lawrence and Peter Bergen were on Campbell Brown's program to discuss it. (And seriously -- doesn't anyone have any info about that new wedding ring Peter is wearing?):


Thursday morning, Tony Harris spoke with Atia Abawi (CNN's newest correspondent in Kabul) and Rory Stewart about what the next step should be:


Friday, Wolf Blitzer spoke with Christiane and Michael Ware (in New York) about the interview, the outreach, and the realities:


Arwa Damon reported Friday on the build-up to the Iraqi elections:


And this morning Arwa reported on how things are going so far:


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Where in the World...?

SATURDAY: Ben Wedeman was still in Gaza.

SUNDAY: Karl Penhaul was still in Rafah, Gaza; Dan Rivers reported from Bangkok on the plight of refugees in Thailand.

MONDAY: Stan Grant reported from Abu Dhabi; Richard Quest from Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Summit is underway; Peter Bergen is still in NOLA. Erica Hill filled in for Kiran Chetry; Betty Nguyen was in for Kyra Phillips.

TUESDAY: Stan reported from Dubai; Nic Robertson from London. Betty was again in for Kyra.

WEDNESDAY: Christiane Amanpour is in Davos; Ben is in Jerusalem. Fredricka Whitfield filled in for Kyra; John King filled in for Larry King.

THURSDAY: Atia Alawi reported from Kabul; John was in Peoria, Illinois at a Caterpillar plant absorbing massive layoffs. TJ Holmes filled in for Rick Sanchez; Fredricka again filled in for Kyra.

FRIDAY: Michael Ware is in New York; Arwa Damon reported from Baghdad on the Iraqi elections; John is back in DC, appearing in The Situation Room; Morgan Neill is in Atlanta (above). TJ again filled in for Rick; Fredricka again filled in for Kyra.

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Liberal & Influential


Who are the 25 most influential liberals in the U.S. media? Forbes came out with a listing last week and there was one CNN name on it: Fareed Zakaria

11. Fareed Zakaria

Editor, Newsweek International

With a perch in virtually every medium, the ubiquitous--and reliably omniscient--Zakaria tackles the complexities of globalization, politics and foreign affairs as an editor, writer and CNN host.







The New Republic spoke with CNN's Candy Crowley about being on the campaign trail for the past two years.

CNN political correspondent Candy Crowley has taken to running through a checklist before bed. Every night she travels with the Obama campaign, she orders a wake-up call, sets one regular alarm and one back-up on her cell phone, which she places strategically out of slapping distance across the room. Then she writes down her vitals: What city is she in? What time zone? What time does she have to be out of the hotel room the next morning? What day is it? With that, she can drift off before the next day's campaign coverage. Most of the time, though, Crowley is so scared to oversleep that she's awake and waiting, long before the alarm--any one of them--ever rings.

"After the previous campaign, it took me a good month to stop waking up in the middle of the night in a panic that I've missed something," Crowley says.

On most days, adrenaline is enough to get her through the "The Situation Room" and "Anderson Cooper 360," but it's all she can do not to zonk out in the car between events. At campaign rallies, Crowley, a self-described loner, is mobbed by "CNN junkies," all of them clamoring for a picture or an autograph. ("That's why I love my iPod," she says.) Crowley was with Barack Obama when he declared his candidacy in February 2007, and has been going nearly non-stop ever since. She has heard all the speeches, covered all the campaign ads. She can't remember her last furlough and her "strategic nice reserve" ran out two months ago. Now in the final lap, Crowley just wants to go home.

"After a while, you just miss your house, you know?" she said from Chicago on Monday. "I miss my back yard. I miss going to the grocery store."

She's not the only one pining for a more mundane life. "I haven't seen a movie in about a year," said New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny, also in Chicago with the Obama campaign. "I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with civilians."

Matt Bai, his colleague at the Times and himself a seasoned political reporter (who, with two young children at home, has mostly recused himself from intensive travel this year), speaks as if he's watched his countrymen go off to battle. "There are guys who went out to the primaries in November, December, and thought they'd be done in February or March, and they just never came home," he says with grave admiration. "They never came home."

After the longest, most sustained campaign on record, political reporters are running on little more than the scant sustenance of yet another slice of pizza. Some are running out of energy; others are running out of ideas. "The one conversation I keep having with reporters is, 'What the hell do we write about? What are the interesting stories left to cover in this election?'" says The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza (who used to be a senior editor for TNR). "There are a lot of people scratching their heads trying to find a new angle at the end."

Others, like soldiers who have served one tour too many, are slowly losing touch with the world outside the candidate's orbit. Bai, who is married to a Fox producer, has seen the strains of life on the road. "You lose contact with the outside world," says Bai. "You call your spouse at home and talk about the trail and the person at home just doesn't get it or care, because it's the same story over and over again. It's murder on relationships." Every four years, Bai says, there's at least one divorce or break-up. "It's just not a normal human experience."

And even if your relationship survives, your personality might not. Last week, Lizza, who was banned from the Obama plane in July, found his way back on and thought he had stumbled on a lost colony. "It felt like the Lord of the Flies in there," he says. "The people who have been there for a long time have all of their little decorations and knickknacks all over the back of the plane. Everyone's a little grumpy and territorial, and there's this sense of people thrown together who have been with each other way too long. I got the sense that I was dropping in on a hostage-captor situation."

"There is definitely a captives' mentality on the plane," Zeleny agrees. "These people eat together, drink together, work together, sleep together--in the same place, that is--every day for 18 months. Now that the campaign is winding down, they're all taking pictures of one another, and you get the sense of summer camp coming to an end."

Veterans point out that despite the length of this race, the reporters' relationships to the candidates and to each other aren't nearly as toxic as they had been in previous years. There's been little of the high school cliquishness that plagued the Kerry press corps, and reporters don't seem to loathe McCain or Obama the way they loathed Gore--who refused to hold a press conference for upwards of 60 days--in 2000.

Call it summer camp or Stockholm Syndrome, but some don't want the madness to end.

"It's so built into my system, that it's going to be hard to stop," says Politico's Ben Smith. Smith, who started blogging about New York politics in 2005, is now seriously addicted to the pace and metabolism--a word many invoked to describe the election's rhythms--of the blogger's life. He finds himself especially energized by the intensity of his readers who, by 4 a.m. have posted dozens of comments to a 3 a.m. post and who are now some of Smith's best sources, sending him scoops and stories and snapshots of a far-roaming campaign. His family, however, is eagerly looking forward to November 5th. Smith's wife repeatedly threatens to flush his Blackberry down the toilet; his kids, jealous of his "running conversation" with his readers, regularly squirrel away the device in the off chance they find it unattended. But Smith can't bring himself to stop. Recently, he returned at 2 a.m. from a fishing trip and "couldn't not plug in after being off the grid for an entire day." He stayed up blogging and answering emails until 6 a.m.

"It's really pathological," he conceded.

Like the lost souls in All Quiet on the Western Front who, home on leave, jump at the sound of a backfiring exhaust, campaign reporters eye the post-election lull with trepidation. "There is an inevitable come-down just in terms of the energy of the thing," says Adam Nagourney, of The New York Times. "I mean, you're going along at 100 mph and then all of a sudden it just stops. The transition to the White House is a whole different story than covering a campaign. It's slower, more institutionalized. It's going to be a big adjustment."

Hendrik Hertzberg, who covered the Dukakis vs. Bush campaign for TNR and has spent 2008 anxiously cheering for Obama in The New Yorker, isn't too excited about the transition either. He has, after all, only started enjoying the game a couple of weeks ago, when Obama pulled ahead decisively in the polls. "I don't want it to end, but I always want it to be about to end," he says. "If the election were always a week away and I was feeling fairly good about it, that would be nice--sort of like Groundhog Day. Because after the election, things will start to get really serious. Then it won't be the game anymore. Governance is serious business."

Younger journalists who came of age in this election are anxious for more personal reasons. Andrew Romano came to Newsweek to do long feature pieces but was conscripted as a blogger. "I'm not one of these crazy political junkies," he told me after another long blogging shift, in which he struggled not to say, "Obama is winning today, too." "It's not my life. It's just a story I was interested in. For a long time I was feeling like I'm looking forward to this being over and going back to writing long-form journalism as opposed to writing multiple stories every day." But then a funny thing happened. His blog, long buried on Newsweek's website, started drawing nearly four million hits a month, making Romano the site's most-read author. "It's kind of like, this is who I am now, so the idea of the campaign being over and not doing a politics blog is a little bit like, who am I after this election?"

Candy Crowley, on the other hand, can't think of a single thing she'll miss about the campaign. She's long ago sent in her Maryland absentee ballot, and November beckons with lush vistas of sleep and TiVO.

"Look, I'm a political reporter. I love politics," she said. "But after the election, there's going to be a lull where everyone's talking about governance and who's going to be the Secretary of State, and can the President do all the things he promised to do now that he doesn't have any money. It's all governance. But honestly, how long do you think it'll be before politics kick in in Washington? A day and a half?"



Finally, tonight... time to play spot the CNNer in Funnyordie.com's HIGH-FIVE INAUGURATION! Some of your CNN favorites can be found in the video: Larry King, Paul Begala, and Soledad O'Brien.



All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Thursday's Mix Bag of Goodies

Tonight I have a variety of things to share with everyone. A big thank you to Julie for the great tips


A great article about John King by Charles Geraci for Editor and Publisher


John King: CNN's 'Ink-Stained Wretch'

WASHINGTON CNN's John King says he wants his new Sunday morning show to be different, and he's already using newspapers to help him do it.During the debut of "State of the Union" ten days ago, King--broadcasting his inaugural coverage live from the rooftop of the Newseum in Washington--showed the headlines of several newspapers from around the nation in an effort to demonstrate that one of his goals for the show early on is to go "outside the Beltway" and look at the needs of communities across the country.King sat down with Editor & Publisher last week to talk about his impressions of the inauguration, his new four-hour show and to have a little fun in the process."Four hours is a challenge, but it's a great opportunity to do more and to be different," King said. "We will be different than any other show on television on Sunday morning. And that's not to criticize the others ... but with the time and with my passion to get out of Washington, we're able to do some things differently that I hope give it a greater connection to people who aren't in Washington."Two days after traveling to Ohio last Friday to tape an interview with now-President Obama--King was the only anchor to have Obama on the Sunday before Tuesday's inauguration--he made reference to the Cleveland Plain Dealer on his show."Because of my show, we brought in some newspapers from around the country, just to take a look at how the Obama pre-inaugural coverage was going," King told E&P.He also looked at headlines in The Miami Herald and the Omaha World-Herald, along with detailing the offerings of Sunday's Chicago Tribune."This is Barack Obama's hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune," King told his viewers. "(It's) a little breezy up here on the roof of the Newseum, but (the headline reads) 'Bound for Glory: With White House as last stop, Obama rides rails into history.' Special graphics, 'Two days to the White House.' Special sections. Pretty extraordinary newspaper there."He also read headlines from The Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer.Extensively incorporating newspapers into his first show should not come as too much of a surprise, though, since King, who has been with CNN since 1997, used to write for the Associated Press, heading AP's political coverage of the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections. Obama's inauguration was the sixth he's covered in his career.Calling the troubles of the newspaper industry a "sad chapter in our business right now," and noting the effects of a "digital age," King called himself an "old, ink-stained wretch...."I like to have newsprint on my hands in the morning," he said. "I like when people tell me, 'You know, you've got a big smudge on your nose.' That means I've read my third or fourth or fifth newspaper."He added, "I'm pretty predictable in the morning--make some coffee, read the papers."But King wasn't all serious in his interview with E&P.Since he did a lot of reporting from the rooftop of the Newseum that inauguration week--E&P received a tour of the operations and can testify to the wind at the anchors' backs--King took some time to dispel any notion that Anderson Cooper harbored any hostility toward Wolf Blitzer for "stealing all the heaters," a comment Cooper made last week that has gotten picked up by several blogs.King said, "Anderson was just being funny," adding that the space heater was located by Blitzer to keep it out of the television shot.When the topic of dancing at inaugural festivities came up, King also poked a little fun at Blitzer before complimenting him, recalling his moves recently on The Ellen DeGeneres Show."Bastard!" King quipped, while smiling widely. "Wolf was showing us all up there.""See, Anderson's a comedian," King joked. "Wolf, it turns out, should be on 'Dancing With The Stars.' I'm gonna stick to being a lowly reporter."


The Daily Collegian had a great conference with Donna Brazile in attendance. To read about it you can click here


Campbell Brown wins 2009 Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications
Congratulations to Campbell. You can read about the award here



Wanna intern for Jeanne Meserve??? Who does not? Well here is your opportunity. You can apply for the position here

I end tonight with a little side note. Last Tuesday I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland when President Barack Obama was sworn in and you would not believe how many people there and all over the United Kingdom sent well wishes to my American travel mates. This truly is a new time and the rest of the world is excited for this change that is coming. Until next week ~ Sapphire


All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Catching Up On Change


We've been Don Lemon fans for a while now and it seems that we are not alone. Our researcher Julie found this article on Variety.com last week that touts Lemon as a CNN rising star worthy of watching. We couldn't agree more.


Change has indeed come.
It's been a remarkable sight as America has beheld that charismatic fortysomething black man with the 100-watt smile -- you know, the one who made his name in rough-and-tumble Chicago before rising to national prominence during the Bush administration. It's gotten to the point where you can barely turn on the news without seeing his beaming visage.
No, not him.
We're talking about rising CNN star
Don Lemon, who's been damned-near ubiquitous of late, especially during the net's Inauguration-related coverage, which included graphics directing viewers to Lemon's Facebook page (his authorized page, as opposed to the "I Want to Marry Don Lemon" and "Don Lemon Is the Shit" fan groups). He can also be found at LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter and as a contributor to the cabler's "Black in America" blog.
"We think the world of Don," says Bart Feder, senior VP of current programming for CNN/U.S. "There's no question that he has a following, and he has a lot of perspective to bring to the table."
Feder admits that Lemon's being young, handsome and African-American in the age of Obama is also part of what he brings.
"One of the goals of the network has been to have many different voices and true diversity of thought," he says. "And adding Don to a panel adds to that, and that's a good thing."



Now onto a few program notes to mark on the calendar:

Larry King will interview former Pastor Ted Haggard and his wife Thursday, January 29 at 9pm (ET)
Larry King will interview Joe Torre Friday, January 30 at 9pm (ET)
Christiane Amanpour hosts DATELINE DAVOS: OBAMA'S WORLD Sunday, February 1 at 2pm (ET)
DL Hugley will
speak at Quinnipiac University,Hamdon, Conn, February 5 at 7 pm




Photographer: Edward M. Pio Roda ©2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.

CNN has released it's new weekend schedule There are a few slots yet to be announced but here's what we have so far:


SATURDAY
6:00am- 7:00am
CNN Saturday Morning: with T.J. Holmes and Betty Nguyen.
7:30am-8:00am
HOUSE CALL- Dr. Sanjay Gupta
8:30am-9:30am
CNN Saturday Morning: TJ Holmes/Betty Nguyen (live from Atlanta)
9:30am-10:00am
Your Bottom Line:Gerri Willis
10:00am-1:00pm
CNN Newsroom
1:00pm-2:00pm
YOUR $$$$
2:00pm-5:00pm
CNN Newsroom
5:00pm-6:00pm
CNN Newsroom: Don Lemon.
6:00pm-7:00pm
The Situation Room:Wolf Blitzer
7:00pm-8:00pm
CNN Newsroom:Don Lemon
8:00pm-9:00pm
Campbell Brown: No Bias. No Bull
9:00pm-10:00pm
Larry King Live:Larry King.
10:00pm-11:00pm
D.L. Hughley Breaks the News: D.L. Hughley
11:00pm -12:00am
CNN Newsroom:Don Lemon
12:00am-1:00am
Larry King Live (replay)
1:00am-2:00am
D.L. Hughley Breaks the News (replay)
2:00am-3:00am
CNN Newsroom (replay)
3:00am-4:00am
Larry King Live (replay):

SUNDAY

5:00am- 6:00am
D.L. Hughley Breaks the News (replay)
6:00am- 7:0am
CNN Newsroom:T.J. Holmes and Betty Nguyen.
7:30am-8:00am
House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta:Dr. Sanjay Gupta
8:00am-9:00am
CNN Sunday Morning:T.J. Holmes and Betty Nguyen.
9:00am-1:00pm
State of the Union with John King:John King
1:00pm-2:00pm
Fareed Zakaria GPS:Fareed Zakaria
2:00pm-3:00pm
CNN Newsroom
3:00pm-4:00pm
YOUR $$$$:
4:00pm-6:00pm
CNN Newsroom
6:00pm-7:00pm
Fareed Zakaria GPS (replay)
7:00pm-8:00pm
CNN Newsroom:Don Lemon.
8:00pm-9:00pm
State of the Union with John King (replay)
9:00pm-10:00pm
Larry King Live:Larry King.
10:00pm-11:00pm
CNN Newsroom:Don Lemon
11:00pm-12:00am
DL Hughley Breaks the News (replay)
12:00am-1:00am
Larry King Live (replay)
1:00am-2:00am
CNN Newsroom (replay)
2:00am-3:00am
D.L. Hughley Breaks the News (replay)
3:00am-4:00am
Larry King Live (replay)
4:00am-5:00am
D.L. Hughley Breaks the News (replay)


That's it for me for this week. ~Phebe

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Ratings At A Glance- Week of January 19, 2009

Ratings for the week JANUARY 19, 2009 - JANUARY 23, 2009

8PM^
Adults 25-54
FOX763,000
CNN722,600
MSNBC649,000
HLN449,600
9PM^
Adults 25-54
FOX712,000 1
CNN604,500 1
MSNBC577,200
HLN185,600
10PM^
Adults 25-54
FOX442,750 1
CNN867,600
MSNBC362,000 1
HLN308,000

CNN dominated in the Adults 25 - 54 demographic during the first part of the week and then FOX came on strong during the latter part. Tuesday's Inauguration day coverage helped CNN's average for the week. CNN had the second highest demo during the 8PM and 9PM hours. During the 10PM they not only had both the highest demographic and total viewers (2,361,000) average rating.

FOX had the highest demographic rating during the 8PM and 9PM hours. Their 10PM hour demographic and total viewers average for the week put them into second place.

MSNBC came in third place and HLN came in fourth place during all three prime time hours.


1 4 day average. Does not include Inauguration coverage.

^ Courtesy Nielsen Media Research; Demographics where noted; Live + Same Day (LS) Fast Track Nationals.




Over the last week, there have been several ratings related CNN Press Releases:

1/19/2009: CNN's Don Lemon greets fans on the National Mall in Washington, DC during coverage of the 2009 inauguration weekend.

ph: E. M. Pio Roda / CNN ©2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved

CNN Digital No.1 on Inauguration Day;
Sets Record for Largest Live Video Event in Internet History

The CNN Digital Network’s distinctive and innovative Inauguration Day coverage – from live streaming video to 3-D interactive maps to intimate contributions from users – catapulted the site to the No. 1 position among all news and information sites in every Nielsen Online metric.

Additionally, CNN.com Live, the Internet’s only multi-stream live video news service, served a record-breaking 1.3 million concurrent live streams in the moments leading up to President Barack Obama’s inaugural address on Tuesday, Jan. 20, nearly doubling what is believed to be the previous Internet record of an estimated 700,000 concurrent live streams served during a YouTube event, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. (Source: Internal CDN monitoring data)

“The realization that we broke an all-time Internet record is humbling; but couple that with the fact that so many people relied on us to experience the biggest moment in recent history, frankly it's an honor,” said KC Estenson, senior vice president and general manager of CNN.com. “No matter how our audience accessed CNN’s exceptional coverage – whether listening to radio, watching television, using the site or connecting with their Facebook friends through CNN.com Live – CNN is at its best when we connect people through the most important events of their lives.”

On Inauguration Day, CNN Digital was the No. 1 news and information site, outranking the competition in all Nielsen Online metrics, including:


· Unique Users: 11 million unique visitors made CNN Digital the most visited online news destination , besting nearest competitors MSNBC Digital and Yahoo! News by 10 percent and 21 percent, respectively;


· Time Spent: CNN Digital generated 97 million total minutes for the day, beating MSNBC Digital and Yahoo! News by 41 percent and 117 percent, respectively; and


· Page Views: CNN Digital generated 94.6 million page views, 28 percent more than MSNBC Digital and 133 percent greater than Yahoo! News. (Source: Nielsen Online)

Inauguration Day also unveiled a watershed moment for CNN.com through its partnership with Facebook that enabled CNN.com Live users to update their Facebook statuses directly from the CNN.com Live player, where they also could see status updates from their friends and other Facebook users. CNN.com Live served a record-breaking 26.9 million live streams, shattering its previous total daily streaming best set on Election Day 2008 with 5.3 million live streams. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst, global). Additionally, 3.6 million unique users spent a total of 16 million minutes on the CNN.com Live/Facebook video player on Inauguration Day. (Source: Nielsen Online Custom Data P2+ Home/Work).

iReport.com, CNN’s user-generated community, doubled its previous submission record of 5,100 set the day before the 2008 election with more than 11,300 photos and videos uploaded to the site on Inauguration Day. (Source: iReport.com internal data). Throughout the day, iReport submissions provided an added dimension and perspective to the network’s reporting of the inauguration on CNN’s television networks and fueled an array of coverage on CNN.com, including several photo galleries documenting the sights and sounds of inaugural celebrations around the world.


CNNPolitics.com registered 27.6 million global page views on Inauguration Day, which is 488 percent increase over the prior for weeks. Additionally, 2.4 million page views registered on the Political Ticker – the No.1 political news blog according to Nielsen Online – which is an 8 percent increase over the previous month. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst, global)

Registering its second highest day on record, the CNN Mobile Web site registered 4.6 million page views on Inauguration Day, a 92 percent increase over the prior four-week period. (Source: Crisp Wireless)




1/17/2009: CNN's Wolf Blitzer talks with Anderson Cooper, Soledad O'Brien, and political contributors David Gergen and Roland Martin during the network's inauguration weekend coverage live from the roof of the Newseum in Washington, DC.

ph: E. M. Pio Roda / CNN ©2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved

CNN Dominates Cable News Competition During Inauguration Coverage

Nearly 8.5 Million Viewers Turn to CNN for Inaugural Address; CNN.com Shatters Previous Records

CNN’s multi-platform coverage of the Inauguration of President Barack Obama reached a ratings milestone on Tuesday, Jan. 20, with CNN's television coverage dominating the competition throughout the day, and CNN.com shattering records across the board during Inauguration Day.

More Americans turned to CNN on television from 12:00 – 12:30 pm, ET (according to Nielsen Media Fast National data), which included the new president’s swearing in and inaugural address than any other cable news network. CNN dominated the competition with 8.497 million total viewers, FNC placed a distant second with 5.488 million, and MSNBC trailed with 3.076 million. In the key demographic adults 25-54, CNN attracted more viewers than FNC and MSNBC combined, with 3.459 million viewers, a 101% advantage over FNC’s 1.722 million, and a staggering 211% lead over MSNBC’s 1.113 million.

From 11:00 am – 2:00 pm yesterday, CNN was also top-rated among total viewers with 6.941 million tuning in, FNC followed with 4.438 million, and MSNBC was a distant third with 2.571 million. This represents the network’s highest 11:00 am – 2:00 pm average in history. In the key demographic adults 25-54, CNN posted 2.811 million viewers, a 104% more than FNC’s 1.379 million and a 204% advantage over MSNBC’s 924,000.

According to preliminary, internal data -- CNN.com generated more than 182 million page views and served more than 36.7 million total video streams on Inauguration Day. Of the 36.7 million video streams, CNN.com Live served 26.9 million live video streams globally, breaking its all time total daily streaming record set on Election Day with 5.3 million live streams. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst, global). Additionally, CNN.com Live estimates it served more than 1.3 million concurrent live streams during its peak, which occurred immediately prior to President Obama's inaugural address. (Source: Internal CDN monitoring data). Also, iReport.com, CNN’s user-generated community, more than doubled its previous submission record of 5,100 set the day before the 2008 Election with more than 11,300 photos and videos uploaded to the site on Inauguration Day. (Source: iReport.com internal data).*

Other key CNN television ratings highlights:

6:00 am – 3:00 am/Total Day coverage:

CNN was No. 1 with 3.979 million total viewers/1.626 million among adults 25-54

FOX placed second with 2.543 million total viewers/750,000 among adults 25-54

MSNBC was last with 1.689 million total viewers/610,000 among adults 25-54

6:00 am – 9:00 am/Morning Show coverage:

CNN’s American Morning was No. 1 with 1.315 million total viewers/638,000 adults 25-54

FNC Fox and Friends was second with 1.165 million total viewers/377,000 adults 25-54

MSNBC Morning Joe was third with 686,000 total viewers/253,000 adults 25-54

4:00 pm – 7:00 pm/Afternoon coverage:

CNN’s Situation Room was No. 1 with 5.487 million total viewers/2.133 million among adults 25-54

FOX Obama Parade/Glenn Beck/Special Report was second with 3.079 million/792,000 adults 25-54

MSNBC Obama Parade/Hardballwas last with 2.158 million/741,000 adults 25-54

7:00 pm – 1:00 am/Extended Prime Time coverage:

CNN was No. 1 with 3.740 million total viewers/1.585 million among adults 25-54 includes Campbell Brown: No Bias. No Bull (7-9 pm), Anderson Cooper 360 (9 pm – midnight) and Larry King Live (midnight – 1:00 am).

FNC followed with 2.604 million total viewers/755,000 among adults 25-54 (includes Fox Report (7-8 pm) O’Reilly Factor (8-9 pm) and Special Coverage/The 44 President (9:00 pm -1:00 am).

MSNBC placed third with 1.915 million total viewers/712,000 among adults 25-54 (includes Hardball (7-8 pm), Countdown (8-9 pm), The Rachel Maddow Show (9-10 pm), Special

Coverage/President Barack Obama (10 pm – 1:00 am).

This represents a 44% and 110% advantage over FNC in total viewers and adults 25-54 respectively, and a 95% and 123% lead over MSNBC in total viewers and adults 25-54.




1/17/2009: CNN's Wolf Blitzer anchors the network's inauguration weekend coverage live from the roof of the Newseum in Washington, DC.

ph: E. M. Pio Roda / CNN ©2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved

CNN Tops Fox News in Total Day among 25-54 Viewers

Situation Room, AC360 Score Wins among 25-54 Viewers; CNN Tops CBS, FNC and MSNBC in Key Demo

For the month of January, CNN was the #1 cable news network in total day (M-Su) among the key 25-54 demographic with 299,000 viewers, topping FNC’s 288,000 and MSNBC’s 201,000. CNN also had the most growth of any cable network in total day among 25-54 with an increase of 39% versus prior year, while FNC only grew 9% and MSNBC grew 31%.

The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer won all three hours in January, 4p, 5p and 6p among 25-54. At 4 p.m., The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer averaged 351,000 demo viewers, 14% ahead of FNC’s Your World average of 309,000 and 90% more than MSNBC Live’s 185,000. At 5 p.m., The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer averaged 392,000 demo viewers, a 14% advantage over the FNC combo of America’s Election HQ/Glenn Beck with 344,000 and a 71% lead over MSNBC Hardball’s 229,000. At 6 p.m., The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer averaged 406,000 demo viewers, 2% ahead of FNC Special Report’s average of 399,000 and 152% ahead of MSNBC’s Race to the White House which posted 161,000. The Situation Room’s Saturday debut on January 24th also topped the competition as the most watched cable news program from 1p to midnight among key 25-54 viewers (479,000). The hour-long program also clinched the top spot in the 6 p.m. hour among total viewers with an average 1.48 million.

Anderson Cooper 360 is the #1 show at 10p among 25-54 viewers in January with 488,000 demo viewers, 30% ahead of FNC On The Record’s 376,000 and a 77% lead over MSNBC’s Countdown replay, averaging just 275,000.

Final Inauguration numbers are in: CNN’s multi-platform coverage of the Inauguration of President Barack Obama made history, with CNN/U.S. topping CBS and the cable news competition from 12:00 to 12:30 during the oath of office and the inaugural address while CNN.com shattered records across the board during the entire day, on January 20, 2009.

From 12:00 – 12:30 pm, CNN attracted 8.528 million total viewers, beating CBS (8.448 million based on Fast National data), FNC (5.508 million), and MSNBC (3.076 million). In the key demographic adults 25-54, CNN was top-rated with 3.482 million, again beating CBS’ 3.369 million while attracting more viewers than FNC and MSNBC combined (FNC: 1.740 million, MSNBC: 1.113 million).
On Inauguration Day, CNN Digital was the #1 news and information site, outranking the competition in all Nielsen Online metrics, including:

• Unique Users: 11 million unique visitors made CNN Digital the most visited online news destination , besting nearest competitors MSNBC Digital and Yahoo! News by 10% and 21%, respectively;

• Time Spent: CNN Digital generated 97 million total minutes for the day, beating MSNBC Digital and Yahoo! News by 41% and 117%, respectively; and

• Page Views: CNN Digital generated 94.6 million page views, 28% more than MSNBC Digital and 133% greater than Yahoo! News. (Source: Nielsen Online)

Additionally, CNN.com Live, the Internet’s only multi-stream live video news service, served a record-breaking 1.3 million concurrent live streams in the moments leading up to President Barack Obama’s inaugural address on Tuesday, Jan. 20, nearly doubling what is believed to be the previous Internet record of an estimated 700,000 concurrent live streams served during a YouTube event, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. (Source: Internal CDN monitoring data)




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Monday, January 26, 2009

Still a Lot of Problems Out There...


Friday, the Obama Administration made it crystal clear that hunting down al Qaeda is still a top priority to this country, with two air strikes into the Pakistan Tribal Areas. Barbara Starr reports from the Pentagon:


Sunday on GPS, Fareed Zakaria had a panel of three guests that, as he put it, "know more about Pakistan and Afghanistan than almost anyone" -- Rory Stewart, Barnett Rubin, and Steve Coll talk about the way forward for the US in that region. The interview is nearly ten minutes long so I broke it into two parts. Part 1:


And Part 2:


On Friday, Campbell Brown had a discussion about the order to close down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. First, a report from Nic Robertson about a detainee who was released and now appears in an al Qaeda propaganda video, followed by a panel to discuss what to do with the rest of the prisoners who remain locked up. Two of the panel members are well-known to CNN viewers -- Peter Bergen and Reza Aslan -- but the third, Jed Babbin, clearly doesn't know the etiquette of panel discussions. Again, cut into two parts due to length. Part 1:


Part 2:


Then on Friday's AC360, Peter spoke with Anderson Cooper:


Peter also spoke with Erica Hill on today's American Morning:


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Dan Rivers has a very disturbing report about Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar/Burma but being rounded up by Thai authorities and dumped back out at sea. It's pretty horrifying stuff, although it seems like most things that involve the Thai authorities these days qualify that way. This one aired in two parts on NewsRoom Sunday, with Don Lemon speaking with Dan via broadband after the piece finished. Part 1:


Part 2:


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Okay, just so that not all the news is grim... Stan Grant reports from Abu Dhabi on a completely green city being built there, and I don't mean the emerald kind of green:


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Finally: I just love this new promo:


That's it for me this week!


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Sunday, January 25, 2009

Highlights from State of the Union - January 25, 2009

John King CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009

Today was the first broadcast of State of the Union with John King from the studio in Washington, D.C. Live TV can be challenging at times and I think they may have a few bugs to work out with the format. There were a variety of technical issues from music drowning out what was being said, lighting / shadowing issues, and video clip roulette (clips played but it may not have been the one that John King or Howard Kurtz expected). They may also need to rethink some of their staging from getting from the segment intro to both host and guest seated at the proper table- everyone made it to their chairs before the music ended, but they were cutting it close.


John King CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009

The studio has changed quite a bit from the layout that was used for Late Edition with a variety of screens visible on three sides. The magic wall (or at least a version of it) has come to Washington, D.C! This clip will give you a glimpse at the whole studio:



John King David Plouffe CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009

The program opened with an interview with David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager. King questioned Plouffe on how he planned to use the network of people that was organized during the grassroots campaign in getting policy through congress. They also discussed the line between the administration and Plouffe who is not officially part of the new administration.

The second interview was with the Republican Senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham. When asked about the President's executive order restricting lobbyist activities, the senator didn’t take the bait to criticize the administration. Not what I expected. Not very partisan. The interview covered the stimulus plan and closing Guantanamo. King also asked Graham about his travels with both the Vice President and Senator McCain. (Trying to get him to say which was better to travel with.)


The next segment was King's taped interview with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. They discussed the inauguration, what advise would he give the new President, the economy, and immigration.

Interviewing the mayor wasn't the only reason why King was in New York City. Here's an excerpt from Mike Allen's Playbook post on Politico.com.

DESSERT — POOL REPORT — STU SCHWARTZ’S RETIREMENT PARTY AFTER 41 YEARS AT ABC NEWS — NOON YESTERDAY AT THE TIMES SQUARE STUDIOS: “The network set up a red carpet in the ‘Good Morning America’ Times Square studio, with Stu and his wife Francie walking in to music, flashing cameras and a videographer capturing the moment. Among the crowd of well-wishers were icons of ABC News: Charlie Gibson, Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts, Ann Compton, former ‘GMA’ anchors David Hartman and Steve Bell, as well as veteran producers like Av Westin and Bill Lord. Party-goers were treated to an over-the-top, spectacular 18-minute video produced by ABC’s Cara Lemieux. It started with ‘CNN breaking news’ about Stu’s retirement, then John King at the magic wall, tracking Stu’s illustrious career. Some 72 current and former members of the ABC family sent in messages to Stu — stories about their days starting ‘GMA’ and ‘Nightline,’ covering the Iran hostage crisis and beyond. Notables like George Stephanopoulos, Katie Couric, Sam Donaldson, Ted Koppel, Cokie Roberts, Ann Compton and Rick Kaplan all told of their experiences working with — and learning from — Stu. There were also loving messages from his most treasured productions — son David Schwartz and daughter [drum roll] Dana Bash.”



John King Donna Brazile Bill Bennett CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009

Donna Brazile and Bill Bennett discussed the first week of Obama's Presidency. I have to admit that I've been impressed with Bennett throughout much of the campaign season and the transition. I don't always agree with his views but he manages to get his points across with class. Below is a brief clip of the end of their discussion where Brazile and Bennett were asked to rate how they thought the week went.



John King Howard Kurtz CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009

That brings us to Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz for the 10 AM hour. The hour came to a close with a discussion between Kurtz and King about President Obama (Newmaker In Chief) visiting the press room.





John King James Carville Ed Rollins CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009

The 11AM hour opened with James Carville and Ed Rollins. During the discussion, Ed Rollins surprised me when he stated that its possible that President Obama could prove to be a better communicator than President Reagan who was the last President to come in to office with such a high approval rating. Republican strategist do not normally favorably compare a democrat to President Reagan. (That's the sort of change that I was not expecting.)

John King CNN State of the Union Vermont January 25, 2009

For this week's diner segment, King had breakfast in Colchester, Vermont at Libby's Blue Line Diner. He talked with three people about their impressions of the President so far.

Barbara Starr, Dana Bash, Ed Henry, and Jessica Yellin joined King for a panel discussion.

King interviewed David Henderson who is a trader on the New York Stock Exchange.



Senator Kent Conrad, the chair of the Budget Comittee, discussed the bailout/ stimulus package.


The conversation turned to Guantanamo again with Douglas Feith and Charlie Swift.


The last word this week went to Rep. Mike Pence, Republican congressman from Indiana who provided a fiscal conservative view on the stimulus package and how the Republican party is going to be able to work with a Democratic party majority.

The last segment was the premiere of Will.I.Am's film, A New Day. The film shows his perspective on the inauguration of President Obama.

How did CNN come to premiere this new film? Here's an excerpt from an article that was posted on CNN.com:

CNN asked the 33-year-old front man for the Black-Eyed Peas to premiere the film he calls "New Day" for January 25. That gave him less than a week. Watch Will.i.am's "New Day."

What he's creating is a mix of video footage he and his crew shot over three days in D.C., set to music. He hopes "New Day" will be a visual backdrop of his reflections at the inauguration and his thoughts on where we need to go next as a country.

Oh, and did we mention he's in the middle of shooting scenes for his feature film debut in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"? Will he be ready with his CNN film on time? No problem, he says. He's been ready for this moment for a long time.

CNN's Rachel Wells sat down with the multitalented man.

CNN: You've clearly been motivated by Obama, both his run for the presidency and now his actual presidency. How did you feel over the entire inauguration about Obama?

Will.i.am: The entire inauguration I felt like I was caught in a dream. You know, I was excited, emotional, concerned about the safety --there were a lot of people there, so ...

CNN: When CNN came to you and said, "We want to have an impressionistic sort of a film about your experience at the inauguration," what were your first thoughts?

Will.i.am: Oh, my first thoughts were, damn, CNN, it's like, it's my little second home or something. I would love to do something. I was enthused. A lot of my people, they were saying, "There's not enough time. Why are you putting more things on your plate? You've gotta go to Canada to film 'X-Men.' " My response was, "You know how many minutes there are in a day?" Not every single minute is occupied. We can squeeze things or use our imagination or figure out what we can do to continue to inspire. I mean, this is important. Just because the inauguration is over and Obama is president doesn't mean we stop inspiring. I mean, we did it.

CNN: Have you done other things on deadline like this before?

Will.i.am: Yeah.

CNN: Tell me about that.

Will.i.am: "Yes We Can" was on deadline. "It's A New Day" was on deadline. The song I wrote for Oprah, "America's Song," was a real tight deadline. So, you know, I'm good at executing when there is a little bit of time.

CNN: You've had some experiences with CNN before. Do you want to list the top three or even one?

Will.i.am: Well the top one was the hologram [on Election Day]. And that thing there was not planned. I just so happened to be walking in at the right place at the right time to meet that deadline and got hologrammed up. The second one was performing "It's a New Day" on "Larry King" the night of the inauguration. That was pretty special.

CNN: If you could describe what your best hope for this short film, how might you put that into words?

Will.i.am: What I would like this short film to be is another seed of inspiration to remind people of the task we have ahead of us. I'm glad CNN is realizing their responsibility and still coming up with content to inspire the youth, adults, male, female, black, white, rich and poor these next four years that we have ahead of us. Coverage, content, it's all important. So, if this is the first one after the inauguration and the beginning of the Obama presidency that we do together, I hope it's inspiring. I hope it's insightful. I hope it gives people all the tools they need to realize how important they are individually and how important we are collectively to come out of this.

CNN: If you could compose a question to President Obama and use the words both "hope" and "change," what would you say?

Will.i.am: It wouldn't be a question. I don't have a question for Obama. I have a sentence, a message, no questions. We have hoped, and because we hoped, things have changed. And now, let's continue to do. Let's continue to inspire the youth. Let's continue to push forward, educate the youth. Let's continue to solve these problems. You have the whole nation behind you. And because of that, the whole world. There are no excuses and no obstacle that we can't hurdle over. God bless you and us. And let's do it.



John King CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009John King CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009John King CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009

King uses front pages from Sunday morning newspapers as discussion points throughout the program. He has printed versions and the screen behind him has an ever changing display of newspapers. It is interesting seeing the different headlines, but at times I found myself trying to decider what was on the newspaper and which paper it was rather than listening to what was being discussed.

John King CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009John King CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009John King CNN State of the Union January 25, 2009

King packed a lot of good discussions and content into four hours with only minimal repeats during the last hour. (CNNi broadcasts the 12PM ET hour of the program.) If you missed the program, an abreviated taped version airs at 8PM ET on Sunday.




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