American Morning Reinvented?

TVNewser is reporting 'the current iteration of CNN’s “American Morning” may be in its final months of production and will likely be replaced by two new shows, one airing from 5am-7amET and another from 7am-9amET.

We’re hearing Ashleigh Banfield, who has been working freelance for ABC News for nearly two years, may be tapped to anchor the earlier hours, while former “American Morning” co-anchor Soledad O’Brien, is being mentioned as anchor of the second two hours.

Banfield, the former MSNBC and Court TV anchor, is under contract to ABC News until the end of the year. O’Brien has been spending the last several years working on documentaries for the “In America” unit. No comment from CNN.'

The New York Post has a similar report online today too.

Read more »

Kiran Chetry Says Goodbye to CNN

Kiran Chetry's letter to staffers at CNN & American Morning:

To My American Morning Family–

July 29th will be my last day on our show and at CNN. While there are exciting things for me coming up soon, I want you to know how much I will miss spending the wee hours of the morning with you.

As journalists, together we have covered some of the most pivotal stories of our time. I will never forget your dedication and hard work toward getting it right and through it all, we always found a way to laugh and enjoy our work.

The stories we told were generational: The Virginia Tech shootings, the Gulf Oil Spill, President Obama’s inauguration, the Royal Wedding… My special reports on teen drug abuse, autism, the challenge of military families… And who can forget the 8 hour marathon shows we did on election mornings, and on and on….Together we’ve had a front row seat to history.

The “thank yous” could go on forever. But Jim Walton, Jon Klein and Joel Cheatwood made the call to give me an opportunity I will treasure forever.

The nearly 5 years here at CNN have been some of the most exciting, challenging and rewarding of my career.

It was a true honor to come to work everyday with some of the most kind, professional, hardworking and fun people in the business.

This isn’t goodbye… this is see you soon.

God Bless,

Kiran

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Jamie Kraft Leaving CNN, John Roberts Leaving AM

Last week we blogged the news that John Roberts has been named a national correspondent for CNN and is heading to Atlanta. This article in Bloomberg Business Week mentions the direction that Ken Jautz has in mind for American Morning and also adds information about Jamie Kraft heading to NBC. We wish both Kraft and Roberts great success in their new endeavors.

John Roberts is out as a CNN morning anchor with the network's new boss saying he wants a more "upbeat" show.
CNN Chief Executive Ken Jautz said Tuesday that he wants a bigger mix of stories and a faster pace in the morning.
"American Morning" generally finishes fourth in the cable morning ratings behind Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN's sister station, HLN.
Roberts came to CNN from CBS News. CNN says Roberts has requested a reporting assignment that will move him from New York to the network's Atlanta headquarters. His fiancee, CNN anchor Kyra Phillips, lives there.

It was also announced Tuesday that executive producer Jamie Kraft is leaving CNN for a job at NBC News.

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Some Serious, Some Silly

I have to offer apologies for my tardiness with the material in this post but time seems to get away from me lately. When I first got an alert that John Roberts would be doing an interview with John Avalon at The Strand in NYC on March 15th I knew it would be interesting. I was encouraged to know that it would be posted on C-Span2 Book TV and planned on grabbing it to post here at ATC. Unfortunately C-Span2 thwarted my efforts with a video that isn't able to be copied, lifted or embedded. So I will post the link to C-Span2 site where the video is posted and strongly encourage you to watch the 54 minute talk that is packed with good information and also highlights John Roberts strong skills as an inteviewer.And while we are on the subject of John Roberts, he pulled a steller April Fool's (I told you I'm behind, didn't I?) joke on American Morning April 1st. He told Kiran Chetry, Christine Roamans and others on the AM set that he had been asked to be the ambassador to Canada. Here's a bit of the CNN transcript:

CHETRY: You know, I feel so much better than I did about 10 minutes ago, because our Christine Romans is here "Minding Your Business", and she fell for the same April Fools' joke which is John telling us that he's been called up to be the ambassador to Canada.

ROMANS: I really believed it.

CHETRY: And you and I both fell for it. No one else did.

ROMANS: John! Really? John!

CHETRY: Well, wait. My reaction was, oh my gosh, you know, it's such a big career move. Christine goes, am I going to have a connection then to these good parties?

ROMANS: That's true. I did say that. All right, well --

ROBERTS: And in your condition, too, (INAUDIBLE).

ROMANS: So, as you can see, I'm really -- I'm looking -- taking the long view. I'm looking around -- over the corner.

Look, we're talking about the -- the free credit reports as well.

ROBERTS: But wait, the (ph) ambassadorship to Canada is available.

ROMANS: You know -- and please tell us, is that -- that was a beautiful April Fools' joke. It was very well done, well executed. You get the -- you get the award for the best April Fools' of the year.

ROBERTS: It's the first one I've pulled in a decade, at least.

Later in the morning there was a great exchange about Robert's April Fool's prank between John, Kiran and Kyra when AM tossed to Newsroom.

Thanks to BA and Cyn for help with the material in this post. ~Phebe

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John Roberts to be Guest Speaker at AJA's

ATLANTIC JOURNALISM AWARDS
John Roberts Guest Speaker at AJAs

The Atlantic Journalism Awards (AJAs)announced recently that CNN's John Roberts will be the guest speaker at their award ceremony. The 29th Atlantic Journalism Awards will be presented at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel, on Saturday, May 8, 2010, during the AJAs gala dinner and awards ceremony.
A veteran Canadian broadcaster and award-winning journalist,Roberts spent the first 10 years of his career as an anchor for several broadcasts of City TV in Toronto. He also co-anchored CTV's Canada AM.The Atlantic Journalism Awards (AJAs) is an annual celebration of excellence in Atlantic Canadian journalism. Over 70 gold and silver awards will be presented for the best 2009 print, radio, television, on line, and magazine stories and images.
Tickets for the show and gala dinner are available online at www.AJAs.ca, or by calling (902) 425-2727.

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Your Views On The News March 15, 2010

There was a lot of buzz on the Internet last week about changes that may or may not be coming to CNN. As a long time AC360 watcher I have noticed a difference in the program's direction during the last few weeks. Less panels and more diverse stories on a wider range of topics have been a welcome change. Here are a few observations from insiders about what maybe in the works for American Morning. The Wrap wrote:"CNN – which has been shuffling its weekend and evening lineups of late – is developing a new morning show pilot, with a format closer to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and “Fox & Friends” than anything it has ever done, TheWrap has learned......
But according to one source familiar with the network’s development process, CNN is testing a concept that would include personalities with dueling political ideologies and opinions. That would be a bit of a departure for CNN, which considers itself to be a bipartisan, journalistically-driven network unlike its rivals at Fox News and MSNBC. (CNN does have a roving band of politically-charged commentators like Mary Matalin and Ed Rollins, but other than Lou Dobbs and the late "Crossfire," never had them host.)
A CNN insider, however, stressed that the programming and talent department are “always testing new talent” and formats, and that the pilot in question is not similar to “Morning Joe.”
It’s also unclear how the pilot would affect CNN’s current a.m. offering, “American Morning.” While the show, hosted by Kiran Chetry and John Roberts, is in second place in the ratings behind “Fox & Friends,” the gap is widening.
According to Nielsen, “American Morning” is down 30 percent across the board in 2010."Medialite took The Wrap's story a few steps further and wrote:
"In some ways, what’s happening in the morning at CNN is symptomatic of a larger issue at CNN – where hard news continues to drive prime time as well. While the formula may have worked in the past, the ratings are declining, and CNN hasn’t evolved in the same way the competition (FNC, MSNBC and even sister-network HLN) have.
Another element to this is Kiran Chetry, who came over from Fox News (very suddenly) almost three years ago exactly. Would a change at CNN in the morning coincide with her contract being up? CNN had no comment (although, regarding Chetry, others yesterday did).
One final note – in TVNewser’s write-up yesterday they highlight “another top-line talent may bolt the cable channel when her contract expires. We hear she’s being wooed by one of the big 3 news divisions.” It would make sense that this person is Christiane Amanpour, whose name has been rumored for the vacant This Week job. In that case, it wouldn’t directly related to CNN’s morning show changes (or non-changes). "

And while we're on the topic of Christiane Amanpour,
TVNewseris reporting that she was offered the job at ABC News and has not decided where her future lies.




Someone who has found her future is Gerri Willis, who has signed with Fox Business News. Willis will host a primetime weekend program called Willis Report. When announcing the new hire Roger Alies,FBN chairman and CEO, said "Most of the CNN talent have been restrained from showing what they can do."


So there you have some of the latest developments in CNN's struggle back up the viewship ladder. We look forward to your views on the news.



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Wonder Woman

The cable and telecommunications industry converge on the New York Hilton Wednesday, March 24 for the annual Wonder Women luncheon, honoring outstanding women leaders.
This year's hosts will be television journalists Kiran Chetry of CNN, Katty Kay of BBC America and Teresa Rodriguez of Univision. This event is co-sponsored by Multichannel News and the New York chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications.
Chetry anchors CNN's American Morning, Kay is Washington correspondent for BBC America's BBC World News America and Rodriguez co-hosts Univision Network's Aqui y Ahora news magazine with Maria Elena Salinas.
If you're interested in attending the event tickets are still available.

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Rebuilding Haiti

Jason Carroll was on American Morning on Thursday with an interesting piece on how Haiti should be rebuilt. Carroll talked with a structural engineer from Los Angeles who is inspecting 10 buildings a day for the Haitian government and offering his advice on how to demolish them or how to reinforce and rebuild.

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Walk In My Shoes

In an excellent series of interviews with at-risk-youths TJ Holmes examined the causes of youth-on-youth violence across the country for American Morning.

Monday:
In part one of the series, "Walk in My Shoes," Holmes talked to one of the teens who participated in the brawl that left a 16-year-old boy dead.





Tuesday:
Part two examines “Why do teens fight?” Holmes talked with a group of teens who say acts of violence help to protect their reputations.





Wednesday:
In part three Holmes traveled with two students in Chicago and witnessed some of the threats these teens face going to and from school.





Thursday:
In the last installment of this series, Holmes talked to specialists about the teenage brain. Teen’s brains are still developing, so if put in a volatile situation, their processing of that situation results many times in overreaction or misinterpretation of the situation.





* special thanks to Wonz for the uploads




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Saturday's Scoop for 9/12/09

John Roberts was interviewed by Mediaite Office Hours on 8/27. Here is the interview from mediaite.com

James Carville and his wife Mary Matalin are co-chairing a committee to bring the Superbowl to New Orleans in 2013. Click here for the article from nola.com.

Ladies' Home Journal's October edition talks with Jill Dougherty on her fight against breast cancer. Here is TVNewser's post with a summary of the article.

Jamie Kraft has been named the new executive producer of American Morning. Previously Jamie had been American Morning's senior broadcast producer and has also worked on AC360. Prior to that Jamie was with CBS and 60 Minutes. Here is the article from Broadcasting & Cable.

Ali Velshi spoke with TVNewser about his trip on the CNN Express. Click here for their full article.

Ali Velshi also spoke with the Wisconsin State Journal about speaking with students at UW - Madison.

Twitter Pictures:

@sanjayguptacnn and @daniellecnn from Afghanistan

@sanjayguptacnn reporting from Afghanistan

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Highlights and More

I hope that those of you observing Easter Sunday had a good day. I have a mini-version of the regularly scheduled Highlights from State of the Union with John King. But first, a montage of clips from Friday's American Morning. TJ Holmes was sitting in for John Roberts. In the first segment, Kiran Chetry mentions that Holmes recently got engaged; next, Holmes critiques the American Morning music selection; and finally, Holmes gets picked on for not knowing his dog breeds.

Here are a few video clips from today's State of the Union with John King:

Dana Perino joined King on today's program to discuss her trip to South Africa.

Top U.S. general on Iraq

When will U.S. be out of Iraq?

U.S. General joins Facebook

Looking for Gen. Odierno's Facebook page? Try here. And the power of mentioning one's Facebook page on State of the Union... Gen. Odierno started the day with 70 "supporters" and at the time of this post has over 1,800.

Official: Iraqis are ready

Salazar searches for energy

Journalists on scandals

Reliable Sources podcast

John King has started doing a Monday morning crib sheet:

Subject: "State of the Union" Sunday Crib Sheet

Date: April 12, 2009

WE WATCH THE SUNDAY TALK SHOWS SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO

If you know someone who would like a sneak peek of Monday's headlines today, they can sign up to receive this crib sheet in their inbox every Sunday. It includes the best moments from all the Sunday talk shows with insight and analysis from "State of the Union" host John King. Plus a few extras you won't find anywhere else. Subscribe by choosing the "Political Ticker newsletter" at http://www.cnn.com/profile/

This week's crib sheet hasn't been posted to the Political Ticker yet, but here's a link to last week's to give you an idea of what it contains: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/06/john.king.political.roundup/

State of the Union is on Twitter as well as Facebook. You can follow the program at: http://twitter.com/cnnsotu

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Friday Night Sweets & Treats

Wolf Blitzer talked to Broadcasting & Cable on April 2, 2009 at the Cable Show.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer at the Cable Show from Broadcasting & Cable on Vimeo.

Congratulations to former CNNer, Jeff Greenfield, on the birth of a grandchild. Daughter Casey recently gave birth to a baby boy, Rory.

Here's a sweet clip for you from American Morning... Alina Cho reports on candy sales in this recession and brings back treats for Kiran Chetry and John Roberts.

And finally, last week Cyn mentioned that Zain Verjee is off to London for a new morning program on CNNi. Here's a clip of Wolf Blitzer and Jack Cafferty saying goobye to her on The Situation Room.

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Ratings At A Glance For The Week of March 23, 2009

American Morning starts at 5am (ET) on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 to cover President Obama's speech at the G-20 summit live.

Ratings for the week MARCH 23, 2009 - MARCH 27, 2009

	8PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 795,500 1 CNN 207,750 1 MSNBC 414,250 1 HLN 445,200
	9PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 763,800 CNN 265,400 MSNBC 407,000 HLN 209,600
	10PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 555,400 CNN 326,000 MSNBC 283,400 HLN 288,200

Yet another week of FOX taking the top spot in the ratings for every hour of primetime on all five days. As for the other three networks, everyone gets to take a turn at coming in second, third, and fourth.

CNN came in fourth for the week in the Adults 25 - 54 demographic at 8PM. The 9PM hour bounced around a bit through the week in the demographic, with three third place finishes, one fourth place, and one second place. (BTW the second place finish was on Friday- the night that Tavis Smiley hosted the program.) The average for the week put CNN in third place at 9PM. At 10PM, CNN had the second highest average.

MSNBC gets third place at 8PM. During the 9PM hour, they had the second highest average and at 10PM, they claimed fourth place.

HLN was back in second place at 8PM. The 9PM hour averaged for the week in fourth. At 10PM, HLN comes in third place for the week.

¹ 4 day average ratings. Tuesday night Presidential primetime press conference not included.

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

This past week has been filled with mountains of articles about the cable news ratings. Can't post them all, but here are a few that caught my eye:

From the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

As always with numbers — especially TV ratings — it depends on which ones you look at and who’s spinning them.

Case in point: Nielsen Media data released Tuesday on the ever fierce cable news network wars.

Executives at CNN boasted the network’s best first quarter in six years in terms of average viewership, but it still finished a distant second to Fox News and many news reports zeroed in on what happened in March: CNN dropped to third place behind Fox and MSNBC in the prime-time news category among viewers age 25-54.

CNN/US President Jonathan Klein downplayed the meaning of one month’s data and hung CNN’s hat on having the best first quarter in six years.

“CNN is more than ever the source of reliable news, and that’s how we like it,” Klein said.

Fox News declined interview requests.

Overall, Fox News averaged 1.2 million viewers during the entire first quarter. CNN pulled in an average 741,000 viewers during the time period. (Fox News and CNN have finished No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, since 2002.)

For the 8 to 11 p.m. news category among the prized 25-54 set, Fox News averaged 552,000 viewers in March — ahead of 332,000 at MSNBC and 288,000 at CNN, according to Nielsen data supplied by Fox News.

It was the first time CNN, owned by Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting System, finished third in that category since it started nearly 30 years ago.

What worked during the first quarter last year — a prime-time lineup of election-based news shows followed by Anderson Cooper 360 — isn’t doing the trick now. Campbell Brown’s 8 p.m. show is pitted against two popular shows on the rival networks: “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox and “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on MSNBC.

And, News Corp-owned Fox in January launched the Sean Hannity show during the 9 p.m. prime-time slot to follow O’Reilly.

The fact that Fox News’ average viewership for the quarter grew 26 percent compared with a year earlier, vs. 17 percent growth for CNN, suggests Fox News may also be taking advantage of its more conservative reputation now that a Democrat is in the White House.

“We have seen some evidence that Fox was maybe benefitting more because it was the opposition network,” said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Washington-based Project for Excellence in Journalism.

And from the New York Times:

MSNBC ran a countdown clock in preparation for the big event last Tuesday night. CNN’s run-up thrummed with portent, while a skeptical Fox News joined in the fervent speculation.

So what had the cable news stations in overdrive? A fairly routine, some might say boring, presidential news conference that did not make news.

That didn’t stop squad after squad of panelists from weighing in on CNN — tearing apart President Obama’s mien and message down to the last blink and nod. A huge electronic display showed a “word cloud” — words in a size that indicated their frequency of use. (Gee, I liked it better when John King used a digital maps to annotate and caress delegate totals.) And before it even started taking apart the content, Fox pointed out that the president had used — gasp — a teleprompter.

There is no question that the stakes are high in this presidency, and it’s hardly an epiphany that in order to feed the 24/7 beast, cable news has to turn every little thing into a big event. But something else is at work here. Gorged on ratings from a historic election and still riding on leftover adrenaline, the cable networks have steadfastly remained in campaign mode. And the hyperbolic rhythms and requirements of a cable news world have never seemed less relevant to the story at hand.

“On the cable networks, the intensity of conflict is what drives their shows, so everything is turned into a referendum,” said John D. Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress, who served as chief of staff for President Clinton and the co-chairman of the transition team for Mr. Obama. “It’s worse than it was four years ago, and its worse than it was four years before that. It’s on a new slope.”

Roosevelt used a radio to broadcast hope in grim times. Mr. Obama has many more megaphones at his disposal, but they go both ways, a feedback loop that threatens to drown out the message.

It’s not just a cable phenomenon: He’s done interviews with most of the big media outlets, and almost everywhere else as well — not only ESPN, “60 Minutes” on CBS and “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on NBC but also Al Arabiya, Black Enterprise magazine, Telemundo and the Univision Radio host Eddie Sotelo, nicknamed Piolin.

Just in case you missed those, Mr. Obama went directly to the public on Thursday with a first-of-a-kind town hall meeting on the Web that was mostly a replay of the themes and data points from the Q. and A. with the professional journalists earlier in the week.

My children would say that Mr. Obama is on the verge of violation for oversharing. But he’s also fulfilling the demand of a media apparatus that requires ceaseless updating and a daily verdict.

After a recent round of big name renewals and contracts, the cable networks are loaded with red meat eaters and cud chewers. MSNBC is pretty much wall-to-wall politics with a roster to match — the obsessive Chris Matthews, the freakishly partisan Keith Olbermann and the reliably left-leaning Rachel Maddow.

Fox, too, sees politics everywhere, with Bill O’Reilly on the hunt for new enemies every day and Glenn Beck’s increasingly popular atavism. And CNN still has all manner of political boots on the ground — panels stacked like cordwood even though the election is long past.

In the old model of cable news, a neutral host would referee fire-breathers fighting it out from either side. But now the middle ground is eroding and everybody seems to be pushing something.

It’s been a bit of role reversal, with politicians lecturing about the need for reasoned debates and the people formerly known as journalists demanding that lines be drawn and various people be held to account.

How politicized is the current cadre of broadcast blabbers? Two cable news hosts — Mr. Matthews and Larry Kudlow of CNBC — had public dalliances with running for office themselves, and their networks were fine with it.

“I have been participating in this aquarium for 20 years and there has been a definite shift,” said Mark McKinnon, vice president for Public Strategies and a media adviser to both President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain. “It is not just a permanent campaign by the administration, it’s coming from the media. They clearly need that political crack to keep the ratings going.”

Some of the viewers seem to have noticed that all of the election coverage is short an actual election. According to Nielsen, CNN, after hitting 3.28 million viewers on average during the week of the actual election, had drifted down below a million by mid-March. Fox News, 3.54 million the week of the election, is still above 2.1 million, while MSNBC, which hit 2.17 million, had 886,000 the week of March 16.

One outfit that will probably do O.K. is the Obama administration. Regardless of how much traction his policies continue to lose, the president’s approval ratings are still high. Mr. McKinnon suggested that he should continue to seize the moment and don the sandwich board whenever possible.

“The success of his presidency will be determined by this first six months,” he said. “He doesn’t have the luxury of not swinging with everything he has right now. The dynamics of the office mean he will be out of political capital soon enough.”

But the business of governing, which involves incremental progress and endless negotiations, isn’t a made-for-television event — unless your only idea of television is C-SPAN. We’re not waiting for late returns from California any more. Instead, we’re getting unemployment figures from Michigan. While it’s a far less exciting story, it’s a far more important one.

And lastly, a link to an article titled CNN: Victim of Ideology, or Its Own Shortcomings? that describes CNN as the network forever seems to be planting a big "kick me" target on its back....

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Sit Back And Enjoy Some Clips

No Highlights from State Of The Union with John King this week. But I do have one article from the Winston-Salem Journal who caught John King having breakfast on Friday morning.

(left to right) Alan Bentley, Jennifer Kline, John King, and Nancy Rivers discuss the economy at Cagney's on Friday March 6, 2009. King, the anchor of CNN's State of the Union was in town interviewing people for a segment that will air Sunday March 8, 2009.

CNN came to Cagney's Restaurant on Cloverdale Avenue this morning.

A film crew visited the restaurant as part of a segment that will air Sunday on "State of the Union with John King."

King, the host of the program, spoke with patrons about the state of the economy and how it was affecting their lives.

The segment will also include interviews King shot on Thursday with Mayor Allen Joines and with Damian Birkel, the founder of Professionals in Transition.

King was CNN's senior White House correspondent from 1999 to 2005, and then became the network's chief national correspondent. His show is based in Washington, but he travels about two and a half days a week for segments filmed around the country.

"My favorite part of the program is when we get out and talk to people," King said after taping the segment. "It's good to keep in touch with everyday people.

"You live in Spain long enough, you start to speak Spanish. You live in Washington long enough, you start to speak Washington."

The segment will air at 11 a.m. Sunday.

What do your doodles mean? That's the question that Elizabeth Cohen was answering the other day on American Morning. Oh course, John Roberts and Kiran Chetry were showing off their doodles.

What did Ali Velshi once consider doing with a swiffer?

Why is Ali Velshi throwing money at John Roberts when he finishes telling viewers about a tax break for small businesses? Here's another clip from America Morning...

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The Post That Never Happened

Sometimes when pulling a blog post together something happens... I have everything that I need to do a post- maybe an interesting article, a video clip, a few pictures, or a press release. Then it all gets shelved- something else pops up at the last minute that just can't wait. This is one of those posts... it (or at least parts of it) started coming together earlier this month and night after night it didn't make it through the last draft and ended up on the virtual chopping block.

Ali Velshi was back on American Morning earlier this month and was having trouble with a fragrant, fruity, gummy thing...

On to fashion, Lola Ogunnaike provided a recessionista for men report. At the end of it, she reviews the first impression DO's and Don'ts with John Roberts.

For the record- John Robert’s proclamation about the tie was here to stay was short lived. A couple of days later, he went without the tie again.

Have you heard about Damon Weaver? He’s a young man who has been lobbying to get an interview with the President. John Roberts interviewed him earlier this week in DC and Damon took the opportunity to ask Roberts about his on again / off again tie.

One last clip, who at CNN has been mistake for the President? This report on the President being put on the cover of MS magazine ended with an interesting subway story and of course a comment from John Roberts.

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Stocking Stuffers

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care… but we forgot to check them to see what was there! Yes, there are a few clips left in our stocking… First, on Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz interviewed Whoopi Goldberg last Sunday.

First, it was an anchor without a tie, now it’s a journalist without pants! Ed Henry was in Hawaii this past week reporting on the President-Elect's vacation. Yes, Ed has no pants. This first clip is from Monday's Campbell Brown No Bias No Bull:

Later on in the week, Ed decided to get even with the anchors- this clip is from American Morning:

The Washington Post even took notice of the wardrobe change.

It's prime time and CNN's Ed Henry is standing on the white sand of Waikiki Beach, reporting live on President-elect Barack Obama's holiday vacation in Hawaii. With the volcanic mountain Diamond Head in the distance, Henry is flanked by palm trees, bikini-clad babes and surfer dudes.

"Ed, are those your producers over your right shoulder, like sunning themselves and deciding what books to read?" anchor Anderson Cooper asks.

"No, my producers are working very hard," Henry replies.

"Okay, yeah, I think you're in board shorts and have a mai tai nearby," Cooper says, prodding the cameraman to zoom out.

And voilà! Below his blue dress shirt, Henry's sporting teal swim trunks with orange stripes.

"I kept my shirt on because I don't have the pecs of either Anderson Cooper or Barack Obama," Henry, the network's self-deprecating senior White House correspondent, said later in an interview.

"No offense to the people of Crawford, Texas, but taking the presidential retreat from Crawford to Honolulu is change anyone can believe in," Henry says, borrowing a phrase from Obama's campaign.

Henry says that when he calls his colleagues in Atlanta, New York or Washington, "they start cursing at me. I called one of our producers and I said, 'Aloha!,' and she said, 'Bleep you! Don't 'aloha' me.' " On Tuesday, when Obama's staff released a report about contact his aides had with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, television correspondents were reporting around the clock. Henry said he did 20 live shots that day for CNN and its sister networks. On such days, the seriousness of the news regarding the president-elect contrasts with the seaside location where reporters stand. And that raises the question of attire.

And what's the holidays without a Yule Log... CNN had some fun with one Christmas Day on American Morning.

Did you catch Joe Johns dancing as they went to commercial?

One last item in tonight's stocking... this is one of my favorite Christmas sights: 34th Street in Baltimore:

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Best Political Team in Jeopardy?

Friday on American Morning, John Roberts interviewed Bono about his experience at the United Nations last week. I've clipped the interview in two parts and also posted the text from the CNN transcript:

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. And time now for an AMERICAN MORNING exclusive.

U2 front man Bono was one of the most recognizable faces at the United Nations general assembly this week. As leaders from countries around the world attended the general assembly, Bono and his ONE Foundation were lobbying for aid to fight disease, hunger and poverty in developing nations and quite successfully as well.

He joins us now for an exclusive interview. It's great to see you this morning. Thanks for joining us.

BONO: Good to be here.

ROBERTS: So, you know, all this talk has been about the economy collapsing, $700 billion bailout. Congress is absolutely absorbed with that.

Did that, in any way, affect what you were trying to do this week? Are people more focused on this economy than in helping out developing nations?

BONO: Well, we got good news this week. I know normally I'm on your program you have bad news, the wingie (ph) rock star, but it's great. You know the disease malaria, it's 3,000 African kids die every day of mosquito bites. Sounds mad, but it's true.

And people have committed and looks like the funds are on the table so that disease will be no more by 2015. That makes people like me punch the air and everyone who wears the ONE T-shirts and all our white band campaign in college campuses all over the country.

They -- it was a great day for them yesterday. So we're celebrating that. I know it's extraordinary, that while you're having this meltdown on the markets that this -- you know that people could even concentrate on this stuff, but I'm really grateful that they did.

We have both candidates make, you know, very powerful statements about the necessity for, you know, nonmilitary tools, for instance, in foreign policy. And that this is an America that both candidates want to show to the rest of the world, the greatness of America.

ROBERTS: So you're hearing what you want to hear from these candidates?

BONO: Yes. And you couldn't imagine a few years ago that you would have candidates so close to the election talking about this stuff, so yes.

ROBERTS: Yes. You were talking to Christine Romans outside the studio, who just did that piece for us a few minutes ago on what else could you do with $700 billion?

What could you do with $700 billion?

BONO: We wouldn't be asking for that kind of money. I mean these are serious matters. People lost their jobs. But for -- I think the world, the bill for the whole world so America would be like about a third of it.

For $25 billion, you could absolutely change the world. So you could put kids in school, most kids in school. You could eradicate diseases like malaria, as we're saying. We could change the water supplies.

But what's important is -- you know, is that people who want to change the world want to see their country -- want to be -- they see it as a patriotic act to show the world the -- you know, innovation of America, technology of America, pharmacology of America.

ROBERTS: You -- for $25 billion, you could put every kid who's out of school in the world into school?

BONO: Yes.

ROBERTS: That seems like a lot of people for $25 billion.

BONO: Yes. Well...

ROBERTS: That's a pretty good return on your investment.

BONO: It's a great return on investment. You heard me on your program before talking about debt cancellation? Strangely Americans don't know that because of debt cancellation there are already an extra 29 million African children in the school.

That's unbelievable. And because people got out on the streets in the Red campaign and stuff like that, there's now, I think, 2.5 million Africans on AIDS drugs, which are expensive.

So your country's -- it's turning for me in the right direction on these issues.

ROBERTS: So you're hearing some of what you want to hear, particularly on malaria issues.

BONO: Yes.

ROBERTS: But European Union had promised to increase aid by $50 billion between 2005 and 2010. Looks like they're going to fall $40 billion short.

BONO: They are, but they're still ahead of America. That's the bad news. You don't want to get me into the ring.

ROBERTS: Oh yes, absolutely. Come on. That's why you're here.

BONO: No, no, no. We've meeting with Sarkozy this week, as well as, you know, talking with the McCain and Palin and as well as always talking with the Obama campaign.

We do keep up the pressure on the Europeans, but the Europeans are way ahead of America on these aid -- on aids, so just to put it in context. But you're right. They're not coming through on all of it. And we will torture them, too. That's our job. ROBERTS: You talk a lot about these United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

BONO: Yes.

ROBERTS: Let me just go over a couple of those. It was supposed to cut global poverty in half by the year 2015, universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2015, begin to reverse the incidence of malaria by 2015.

How far along that road are we?

BONO: The Millennium Development Goals are in a bit of trouble. And it is astonishing to me...

ROBERTS: And whose fault is that?

BONO: Well, you know, politicians, they love signing checks, but they don't love cashing them. They love the photographs. And, you know, these G8 meetings, you'll see myself and my partner Bob Geldof, you know, arm wrestling and, you know, politicians up against the wall.



ROBERTS: You're really effective in doing that.

BONO: Yes.

ROBERTS: You get access to a lot of places.

BONO: Yes, it's true. And...

ROBERTS: I remember that I was on a -- I was on a trip with President Bush once, and you walked on Air Force One, and the (INAUDIBLE) watching you do it.

BONO: Well, it's the absurdity of celebrity. You know I don't consider myself a celebrity in this sense, I think I'm an activist who knows what he's talking about.

But yes, we get access, and we use it. And it's true that there was a very ambitious plan signed up in 2005 that further committed what was decided in the year 2000, that we could actually, across eight goals, completely change the face of poverty and hunger in the world.

And there was a $25 billion bill by 2010 that would enable them to do that. They haven't come through on that. And another day I'll tell you why, but today I'm punching the air because malaria will be no more by 2015.

And it's Americans, people from the private sector, Peter Chernan there, you know, Ray Chambers -- all kinds of people, Bill Gates. Your mayor of this city, you know...

ROBERTS: Bloomberg, yes. BONO: Bloomberg is an amazing guy. He's working on this stuff. I just want Americans to know that side of their country because I'm a fan of America. And, again, that you have candidates, you know, like John McCain taking time out this week to talk to us. Barack Obama before. This is fantastic.

ROBERTS: I was reading your blog on Financialtimes.com.

BONO: Yes, I'm a reporter as well as you right now.

ROBERTS: You've been writing all week, doing a great job, too. You mentioned in one of your pieces that you've been writing some lyrics. And I'm wondering where the lyrics are going.

BONO: The lyrics. Statistics don't rhyme. I -- you know, songwriting comes from such a different part of my brain and such a different part of my -- just who I am.

ROBERTS: And are you writing about all this?

BONO: No, it's strange. It's very strange. I used to work in a garage when I was a kid, you know, pumping gas, and I used to dream when I was -- pumping the gas about getting to rehearsals on a Saturday, you know, so I could be with my band and write songs.

The work that I'm doing now, as we say, we're working like a dog, living like a Shih Tzu. We're like spoiled people. We travel well, but we work on these issues.

ROBERTS: Yes.

BONO: Because you're working for the world's poor, we work like dogs. But I find myself at times, sometimes, I just wake up in the morning, and I just want to be back with my band in a rehearsal room.

ROBERTS: Right. And you will be soon. New CD coming out next year.

BONO: I'm not complaining about the work. This is the most inspiring thing I've ever been involved in my life, and it's working. It really is working. And that's why I'm on your show this morning. I just want to thank Americans really.

ROBERTS: And we want to thank you for coming in this morning.

BONO: Thank you.

ROBERTS: It's really great to see you. Good luck on the new CD coming out next year, right?.

BONO: Thanks.

ROBERTS: Looking forward to it.

Bono, good to see you. Thanks for coming in.

BONO: Thank you.

If you are a frequent viewer of CNN, you may have developed the impression that the Best Political Team On Television has all of the answers. Well, on Thursday night, they will have the answers as they provide the clues on Jeopardy.

It looks like Anderson Cooper, Bill Schneider, Campbell Brown, Candy Crowley, and Wolf Blitzer are among those delivering answers. Here's a look at promo that ran yesterday afternoon on CNN:

The Metro ran an article by Tom Forman on Friday: Selling off the rest of the Wall St. rubble. No surprise that this week's article would be about the impending bailout.

Let’s say you walk into an office building filled with busy people doing all those things that people in offices do, and suddenly a guy appears with a big fat wallet.

"Listen,” he says in a money-filled drawl, “I’ve got $10 million for you if you can just make sure nothing bad happens here in the next 30 minutes.”

You start walking the floors, and 29 minutes later you smell smoke. What do you do? If you are a caring human being, you pull the fire alarm and say goodbye to your almost fortune.

Or, if you bear no direct blood ties to Mother Teresa, you say nothing, collect the money and tell the fire crews, “Hey, it wasn’t burning when I was in charge!”

That’s why Congress spent much of this week arguing for limits on CEO pay as part of the bailout package. For decades now, Wall Street has been moving deeper into a realm where rewards are based on fast bucks and blind eyes toward future problems.

In the 1970s, the average CEO made only 35 times as much as the average worker, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Back then, the big boss still had to keep the place running, the income flowing, the widgets selling for 15 or 20 years before he could safely afford three houses, six cars, and a year-round vacation schedule. Today, that same CEO makes about 275 times as much as his employee. At a paltry $25 million a year, he can work two weeks and retire with as much money as the average American family will make in 20 years.

That trend promotes, by the reckoning of many analysts, a really weird way of looking at business. Long-term survival of a company? Who cares? Being a good corporate citizen interested in the stability of your workers’ lives or careers, their neighborhoods, or your country? Are you kidding?

If we were talking about just the dealings of private businesses, perhaps we could all shrug and go back to hemorrhaging our own money at the gas pumps. But what we are talking about now is us, the American taxpayers, picking up the tab for the bad decisions these highly paid professionals have made. A $700-billion tab.

The funny thing is, everyone on Wall Street could smell the smoke years ago. So even the slowest politician knows, voters are not going to be very happy if part of the payout goes to the guys and gals who did not pull the fire alarm.

CNNPolitics.com | Catch Tom Foreman on CNN every Saturday at 6 p.m. on This Week in Politics for a look back at the presidential campaign trail.

The Election Express Bus is on the move! Here's the latest on where it will be stopping:

10/2	Vice Presidential Debate St. Louis, MO
10/3 – 10/4	Oktoberfest St. Louis, MO
10/7	Presidential Debate Nashville, TN

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Howling Success

Rob Marciano filled in last week for John Roberts on American Morning. On Monday, Heidi Collins was showing off a medal that her team won during a CNN charity golf tournament that Marciano missed.

The Louisiana SPCA is celebrating their 120th anniversary this year. In honor of their "Howling Success" they're holding The Great CATsby: A Roaring 20’s tribute. Among their “20 reasons why you should celebrate the Roaring 20's with the Louisiana SPCA” was none other than CNN’s Rob Marciano who is one of their Celebrity Chairs for the event.

The celebration will take place on Saturday, November 15th at The Dorothy Dorsett Brown Louisiana SPCA campus. More information can be found at the Louisiana SPCA website.

Has CNN been emailing you recently? CNN posted an alert on their Behind The Scenes CNN.com blog about fake CNN emails that have been floating around cyberspace.

Earlier this week, a spam message purporting to be from CNN began circulating the Internet. We decided to blog about this to alert those of you who hadn’t yet received it to be on the lookout for it; and also to assure those of you who did receive it that the message was NOT, in fact, from CNN.

As you may know, spammers often disguise or forge the source of their e-mail to give recipients the impression that the message derived from another system, especially one tied to a recognizable brand. In this instance, the spammer chose to use the CNN brand.

The message, claiming to contain CNN’s Top 10 news stories and videos of the day, is fraudulent and did not originate from CNN. If you have received it, we suggest that you delete it from your mailbox. Further, we recommend you delete any e-mail message from your mailbox that you believe may be illegitimate.

Thanks to all of you out there who alerted us to the existence of this spam purporting to be from CNN.

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Unite Against the Man!

I'm thinking that this whole episode in American Morning history will go down as mustachegate. First we had Richard Roth getting the entire crew involved in the wear'in of the 'stache. But the "hairless profit of doom' was on vacation and thus missed all the fun. As I said in my post yesterday, Ali returned to American Morning on Tuesday and low and behold he not only has a very respectable mustache but a full blown goatee. Here's Rob Marciano and Kiran's reaction, along with Ali's concerns about management.

But alas, on Wednesday morning the 'hairy profit of doom' had been replaced by clean shaven Ali. Score 1 for The Man and 0 for AV.

The polling continues in our Hottest CNN contest. Some of the races are very tight, so make sure to cast your vote. ~Phebe

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