David Gergen speaks at Elon's commencement and receives honorary Doctor of Laws (I feel like we may have already posted this but I couldn't find it when I checked.)
TVNewser has learned CNN entertainment correspondent Lola Ogunnaike is leaving the network. Oguannaike joined CNN in May 2007 and had reported primarily for CNN's American Morning. Today was her last day. Her contract was not renewed. A CNN spokesperson tells TVNewser, "Lola is a terrific reporter who brought American Morning viewers their daily dose of all things pop culture and we wish her all the best in her new endeavors." All the best to Lola in her future endeavours.
All Things CNN sends it warmest wishes to Anderson Cooper who is celebrating his 42nd birthday. Send birthday wishes to Anderson on twitter ~ @andersoncooper
Thats it for another week. Again my thanks to Julie ~ Sapphire
Happy Mother's Day! Hopefully, those of you celebrating the holiday had a good day.
The first guest on with John King this morning was General David Petraeus to discuss Pakistan and the Taliban; as well as Afghanistan.
The next discussion was with Senator Bob Corker (R) and Senator Bob Casey (D). The topics included Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sen. Corker was not impressed with the President of Afghanistan at the recent luncheon in Washington, D. C. The discussion also turned to the economy; the results of the "stress test" of the banks; the future of the Republican party; and Sen. Specter's party change. King tried to ask Sen. Corker about comments that VP Cheney had made, but the Senator decided he preferred to talk about Sen. Specter.
Mary Matalin (R) and Hilary Rosen (D) were the next guests. King threw the question about VP Cheney's comments to Mary Matalin. They also debated how safe the US is with Obama as President and comments made at the White House Correspondent Association dinner.
Los Angeles is said to the homeless capital of the world. John King went there this week and interviewed Ruth Martinez, a homeless mother with a young son. He also interviewed Rudy Salis who works with a Community Outreach program. The version of this interview on CNN.com appears to be an extended version:
Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz started off with Rachael Sklar, Amanda Carpenter, and Joe Klein. The topics included the state of the Republican party, Obama's Presidency, the Supreme Court vacancy (the President's "empathy" remark), Congressional hearings about the news industry, and of course, the White House Correspondents Association dinner, journalists dining with politicians, and the President and Vice President having a burger for lunch.
The next panel included Lois Romano and Lola Ogunnaike to discuss Elizabeth Edwards' book, Bristol Palin's interviews, and Miss California's photos.
Gideon Yago talked to Kurtz about the Al-Jazeera network not getting picked up by many cable providers and the shoe-throwing journalist.
Donna Brazile and Bill Bennett joined John King during the 11AM hour to discuss Gen. Petraeus' remarks about Pakistan and Afghanistan, VP Cheney's recent comments, the Republican party, and the White House Correspondent Association dinner.
In the CNN Diner segment, King spoke with three mothers at a diner in Los Angeles about the economy.
The political round table included: Ed Henry, Barbara Starr, Jill Dougherty. The topics included: Pakistan, President Zardari's comments regarding Bin Laden, and the White House Correspondent Association dinner (of course).
John King's second report on homelessness was an interview with another homeless single mother, Dina Acevedo. She lives at a hotel with her three daughters and is unable to work because of her immigration status.
The Last Word this morning went to a mother serving in Iraq at Camp Al Taqaddum Airbase, Marine Staff Sergeant Brandy Ovanek. King surprised her with having her family on the phone line.
John King talked about his trip to Los Angeles in this week's staff briefing:
Did you know that Ed Henry has a weekly radio program on CNN Radio? Here's the latest broadcast that was posted on CNN's Political Ticker:
Today on "44 with Ed Henry," CNN's Senior White House Correspondent talked about the wild week for President Obama, from the stimulus plan's roller coaster ride through Congress to his first prime time White House press conference.
Ed Henry talks to CNN Radio listeners online every Friday at 11 am ET. To listen to “44 with Ed Henry” live, go to www.cnn.com and click “CNN Radio”
On January 14th, Alina Cho was spotted at the 2008 National Board of Review awards gala. Photo credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
On February 5, 2009, Soledad O'Brien attended the 2009 Straight for Equality awards. Photo credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
Pictured is Roland Martin and Jacquie Hood Martin at the 40th NAACP Image Awards after party on February 12, 2009. Photo credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for NAACP
A few clips from American Morning caught my eye tonight. Are you familiar with Michael Gates Gill's story? He's the author of “How Starbucks Saved My Life.” Lola Ogunnaike spoke with him at Starbucks earlier this month.
And finally tonight, Christine Romans was discussing the economy, the stimulus package, and TARP. She choose an interesting analogy to open her report with and John Roberts was more than slightly amused by it.
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.
Friday, we got a preview of the interview Fareed Zakaria did with Al Gore for this week's GPS, and you know it's going to be a good one:
Wednesday, Christiane Amanpour did a "Memo to the President" about how to handle Iran:
Also on Wednesday, Peter Bergen appeared on AC360 to discuss the latest tape recording from al-Qaeda:
And on Friday, Miles O'Brien gave us a preview of the upcoming week of specials on UFOs that he's been putting together:
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On Thursday, John Roberts decided to go tie-less on American Morning. At first I thought he'd spilled coffee on it or something, and kept waiting for someone to bring him a replacement! But eventually it became obvious that this was no accident... I can only guess that upper management left early for the holidays because, come on: Ali Velshi had to shave his goatee but the host can decide to go casual all of a sudden?
Well, on Friday they discussed the new look and how people were reacting to it, and Lola Ogunnaike even quizzed some fashion-HE-stas about it:
Later in the day, Kyra Phillips spoke with John by phone for some fashion tips for TJ Holmes:
I'm sure you noticed how enthusiastic TJ's EP was about it... but he did indeed appear sans tie. But I'm just not seeing Wolf embracing the new trend! So we'll see what Monday brings. But I did want to clear up one thing: when it comes to not wearing a tie on CNN, we all know who the real trendsetter is. I'm just sayin'...
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Where in the World...?
SATURDAY: Suzanne Malveaux and Ed Henry were still in Chicago covering the Obama transition team.
SUNDAY: Dana Bash and Ed Henry were in Washington.
MONDAY: Michael Ware was in Washington; Ali Velshi was in Detroit; Kitty Pilgrim hosted Lou Dobbs Tonight, as she would all week.
TUESDAY: Jessica Yellin was in Chicago; John King was in Washington; Ali Velshi was back in New York; Sanjay Gupta was in New York for the Fit Nation Summit.
WEDNESDAY: Sean Callebs was in Lincoln, Nebraska, to cover the debate over the state's Safe Haven Law; Peter Bergen was in Washington (via phone for American Morning, in the bureau for AC360).
THURSDAY: Jamie McIntyre was at the Port of Baltimore for a report on the Navy's efforts to battle pirates; Gary Tuchman was in Moraine, Ohio, where a GM plant is shutting down.
FRIDAY: Miles O'Brien was in New York, previewing his reports next week on UFOs; TJ Holmes (above) was in for Rick Sanchez' hour of NewsRoom; John King hosted Larry King Live.
I come to you, dear readers, with a heavy heart... apparently my last offering to the Blogger gods was not accepted, because after weeks of being perfectly well-behaved, the rackedy-frack system is just not letting me upload videos today.
So I'm afraid I will have to try to make do with the old-fashioned written word and occasional graphic...
One of the clips I intended to upload today was a report that Entertainment Correspondent Lola Ogunnaike did for American Morning on Tuesday. She had received a message on her Blackberry warning her that her life was in danger. This is from her online article:
I received a really disturbing e-mail the other afternoon.
"Do you know the person pictured in the following video," it read. "If so, please contact me immediately. Your life might be in danger." The sender claimed to be a Detective James Nicholas, Director of Crime Prevention for the Universal Crime Network.
The e-mail included a link that showed a "crime scene" video -- shown on what would appear to be a sister-station to CNN -- about a series of murders that had been linked to a music video by singer Ashanti.
Again, from her article:
It's not everyday that I get death threats, so naturally I freaked, clicked on the link and up popped a news report about a series of copycat murders that had been inspired by the R&B singer Ashanti's video "The Way That I Love You," a song about a woman who discovers her boyfriend has been unfaithful.
Clutching a butcher knife and dressed in beaded gown, she cries and croons about betrayal. The cheater ends up dead in bathtub.
Jealous lovers, according to the report, were on a rampage -- and the next victim, it suggested, would be me. On the wall of one of the crime scenes were the words "Lola Will Die," written in what appeared to be blood.
Sadly (and yet, of course, thankfully!) this whole thing was a publicity stunt to promote Ashanti's latest record. People could send "Gotcha-grams" to their friends (?) and even choose the method of death used in the clip shown.
The saying is that there is no such thing as bad publicity... but this one seems to have backfired; the site has been removed and Ashanti now says she has regrets about it. Good to know...!
The lone video I did get to upload was a very short clip also from Tuesday's American Morning: Ali Velshi does a Clint Eastwood impression. Well, at least I can leave you with a laugh!
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Where in the World...?
SATURDAY: Wolf Blitzer, John King, Gloria Borger, and Candy Crowley were all reporting from Washington DC, covering Hillary Clinton's speech suspending her campaign.
SUNDAY: Atika Shubert reported from Jerusalem.
MONDAY: Susan Roesgen was in Columbus, Indiana, covering the floods; White House Correspondent Elaine Quijano was traveling with the president and reported from Ljubljana, Slovenia; Anderson Cooper was in Ruhengeri, Rwanda, working on Planet in Peril 2; Campbell Brown filled in as host of AC360 all week; John King, Dana Bash, and Jessica Yellin all reported from DC.
TUESDAY: Jamie McIntyre interviewed Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy; Nic Robertson reported from London about the air plane crash in Sudan; Frederik Pleitgin and Elaine Quijano reported from Berlin during President Bush's stop there.
WEDNESDAY: Susan Roesgen was in Lake Delton, Wisconsin, where the lake had completely disappeared; Sean Callebs was in Des Moines, Iowa, covering the flooding there; Dana Bash was with the McCain campaign in Philadelphia; Michael Ware had a major exclusive from Baghdad.
THURSDAY: Dana Bash was in NYC; Elaine Quijones was in Rome with the president; Sean Callebs and Dan Simon were in Little Sioux, Iowa to cover the tornado that touched down nearby at a Boy Scout camp; Susan Roesgen was in East Bristol, Wisconsin, reporting on the flooding, while Gary Tuchman was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
FRIDAY: Michael Ware (above) reported on major developments for the future of our troops in Iraq; Dana Bash was in Penberton, NJ to sit down with John McCain for an interview. (The rest of the day was primarily focused on the sad and untimely death of Tim Russert.)
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That's all for me today. Sorry about the lack of videos.
A couple of, as they say, programming notes: Sunday on Fareed Zakaria GPS, there will be a discussion about Iraq that promises to be excellent. Well, just check out the guest list:
This week on the show: the subject of Iraq. Two controversial scholars, Michael O'Hanlon and Ken Pollack of the Brookings Institution, have just returned from Iraq and we'll be hearing their assessment of the current situation. Michael Ware, our correspondent in Iraq, will put his two cents in, as well as New York Times war correspondent Dexter Filkins. Don't miss what promises to be a fascinating and original discussion.
I am planning to post several of Michael's clips on Monday... he had a couple of exclusives reports this week that were just incredible. (Yes, I'm biased; doesn't mean I'm wrong!)
Wednesday night, the Webby award gala was held and even though the AC 360 blog did not win, CNN did not come up empty. Ali Velshi and Mitch Gelman, senior vice president and senior executive producer of CNN.com were there to accept the award. To see pictures of Ali and others at Wednesday night’s festivities you can click here to check out pictures on the Huffington Post.
This past weekend on “This Week in Politic” Tom Foreman paid tribute to the candidates of the Democratic presidential race who were lost along the way. So for all you Democrats who may have lost your favorite candidate along the way, this is for you. Speaking of politics, there has been a lot of chatter out in the cyber world today that Lou Dobbs was considering running for Governor of New Jersey. Well Lou had a little something to say about it during Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. So New Jersey it does not look like Lou is rushing to run and I know you were all excited about getting those “Dobbs for Governor” lawn signs. Maybe someday, like Lou says “never say never” This week on American Morning Lola Ogunnaike did a piece on minority presidents feature in Hollywood. At the end of the piece, Kyra Phillips brought up the fact the John Robert’s ringtone is from one of his favorite shows 24 (it is one of mine as well). I get the impression if John could vote for “President Palmer” he would. I thought I would end my post tonight with a clip from Wednesday’s Tuesday’s American Morning opening. I love this clip because I find this happening to me more often lately so thanks to Kyra for letting me know I am not the only one. Just a note of reference, Friday is Kyra's last morning on American Morning, Kiran Chetry will be returning to AM on Monday. Kyra you have been a great addition to American Morning and have given us at ATC a lot to blog about. Kyra will most likely be returning to her post as co-anchor of the afternoon edition of NewsRoom with Don Lemon. Seems like everyone will be back to their normal places come Monday
Have a great weekend everyone and to all the dad's out there...
A few clips tonight for your enjoyment. The first is from This Week In Politics. Mike Luckovich is an editorial cartoonist and unlike some people who can’t wait for the primary season to end, he’s enjoying all of the material that the three presidential candidates have been providing him.
On American Morning, Lola Ogunnaike did a story on the anniversary of the Thriller video and was showing off some of the moves that she learned. Kyra Phillips did her best to get John Roberts to join in, but he was claiming that he was just Mr. Boring Old News Guy.
Finally, TJ Holmes did a report for Issue #1 about grocery shopping. At the end of the clip, Gerri Willis and Ali Velshi decided to have a little bit of fun discussing TJ’s shopping habits.
