2007 Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress

Drew Griffin will be the recipient of the The National Press Foundation's 2007 Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress.

The Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress recognizes one print journalist and one broadcast journalist individuals whose work shows thoughtful appraisal and insight into the workings of the U.S. Congress. The two winning print and broadcast journalists win prizes of $5,000 each. The award is presented at the 25th Annual Awards Dinner on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at the Hilton Washington Hotel.

Some past CNN winners have included: Ed Henry (2005), Candy Crowley (2003, 1998), Dana Bash (2002), and Jonathan Karl (2001).

Holiday Programming Schedule

If you are looking for something to watch while you're cooking your Thanksgiving feast, tune to CNN for a Special Investigations Unit and CNN Presents Marathon. So put your turkey in the oven and tune into CNN for five great documentaries. But please, don't forget to check on Tom Turkey in between programs! (Please click title for full text.)

CNN to Air Thanksgiving Day Documentary Marathon

On Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 22, CNN will broadcast five of its most popular CNN: Special Investigations Unit and CNN Presents documentaries, featuring anchors Larry King, Sanjay Gupta, Soledad O’Brien and Don Lemon.

The 12-hour marathon begins at 1 p.m. with all times Eastern:

· CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Growing Up Diana – (Airs 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.; 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.; and on Friday, Nov. 23, from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m.) – CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien investigates the lesser-known early life of one of the most famous women of all time – through rare interviews with Princess Diana’s childhood nannies, friends and family members.

· CNN: Special Investigations Unit – James Brown – Say it Proud – (Airs 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.; 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; and on Friday, Nov. 23, from 4 a.m. to 5 a.m.) – CNN Newsroom anchor Don Lemon unravels the multiple paradoxes of James Brown, who rose from abject poverty to the heights of fame and wealth. Brown’s career and life reflected the culture and politics of the times in which he lived.

· CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Fed Up: America’s Killer Diet – (Airs 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.; 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.; and on Friday, Nov. 23, from midnight to 1 a.m.) – Just in time for the holiday of excessive eating, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on the surprising science behind how nutrition affects the body and brain – and how unhealthy food remains central to the American diet despite growing consumer awareness about health.

· CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Chasing Life – (Airs 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and on Friday, Nov. 23, from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.) – In a documentary based upon his book also called Chasing Life, Gupta reveals whether there is a longevity gene; whether cutting calories or exercise contributes more to a longer life; if anti-aging supplements are a waste of money; if stem cell therapy can reverse or stop the aging process and much more.

· CNN Presents: Larry King – 50 Years of Pop Culture – (Airs 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Friday, Nov. 23 from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.) – CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest guide viewers on a two-hour tribute to Larry King. King’s family, icons, pals and celebrities – including former President George H.W. Bush, Mariah Carey, Walter Cronkite, Mark Geragos, Jon Bon Jovi, Kermit the Frog and Dolly Parton – offer insights into King’s life and his place as an American institution.

· CNN: Special Investigations Unit – Danger: Poisoned Food – (Airs 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.) Gupta journeys from the fields to the dinner table to diagnose how tainted spinach, lettuce, chicken and other foods enter the food supply, how the dangers can be avoided and how federal interventions and guidelines currently under debate offer protection.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! I hope your holiday is filled with love, happiness, friendship and fun! ~Sheryn

Candy Crowley

In February, 2007, Mediabistro.com posted an interview CNN's Senior Political Correspondent, Candy Crowley. Below are a few excerpts from the interview:

Did you always want to be a journalist?

I always wanted to be a writer. But the problem with being a writer is, unless you've written your first book, they don't pay you a whole lot to sit at your house and write. So this fulfilled the need to have a paycheck. And since then I've grown to love journalism.

How'd you get your foot in the door?

My first job was at WASH-FM when it was a MetroMedia station in Washington. I just worked this minimum wage split shift thing. Basic gopher work, calling around to find out what happened the night before.

I went from there to AP, but I had an interim with UPI for about six minutes. You work with the wires when you're a local station. It's easy to get to know those people. So I had accepted a job at UPI, and then I quickly got a job with AP.

Then I went from AP to Mutual Broadcasting. And then I went from Mutual back to AP. And I had children. Then I went from AP to NBC. And then to CNN.

Take me through a typical week, if one exists.

There's really not a typical week, which is the best part of it. I love the travel. I love that the '08 election has started so early, because it gets me out and gets me going.

In an election year, there's a lot of being away from home. This is sort of an election year, even though this isn't THE election year. So there's travel several times a month. So in that week, it's airports – Cleveland, Des Moines, Columbus, Nashua.

When I'm home for the week, sometimes there are things coming up that I know will be a story, so there are things I'll work on. Like ahead of the State of the Union –- what's the political dynamic as Bush gives his speech?

Other times the story will come to you – someone will literally run into your office and say something like 'John Kerry's not running in '08.'

And then you try to pick up a little news. You make as many phone calls as you can in the morning to pick up what's out there and generate a little news.

Who do you look up to?

One of my all-time favorites is Tom Brokaw. I think he is terrific. Peter Jennings, same thing. I just thought they were consummate reporters and anchors. In terms of reporters, Lord, I can't start, because there are a lot of them out there that are really good, that are poets in their own light, and are really good reporters.

And you're in that category now, too.

I've never tried to stand out or make a name for myself. I always just wanted to do the story. If you do stand out and make a name for yourself, that's great. But I don't know anybody – well, yeah, I do – most people I know are in this because they love to find things out. They love to report, they love to tell things, they love to relay things to people. I'm consistently startled when people come up to me.

Still?

Yeah, I still am. It's just me walking through the airport. I don't think 'Wow, this is Candy Crowley walking through the airport.' It's hard to see yourself as anything other than the mom or the friend, because that's who you really are.

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Monday, November 19th is the birthday of two CNN legends, founder, Ted Turner, and Larry King.

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Mystery Journalist

This week's Mystery Journalist was Newsroom anchor, Heidi Collins.

Ratings and James Carville

The ratings for last Thursday's debate were unbelievable! CNN not only scored the highest ratings of any debate but they also claim it was the highest ratings to date of any primary debate on record.

The total viewing audience was well over 4 million. On an average night CNN's prime time can bring in 800,000 to over a million. Way to go CNN!

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According to TVNewser:

CNN To Do Better Job of Disclosing Carville-Clinton Connection

In the hangover of what was the highest-rated debate of the primary season, CNN execs are admitting they need to do a better job of disclosing that one of the members of their "Best Political Team on Television" is a friend and "maxed-out" donor to the Presidential campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Speaking about the Clintons, political strategist and CNN contributor James Carville tells the NYTimes he is "close to them" but has "never been paid a nickel by her."
CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein says going forward CNN anchors will be explicit about the Carville-Clinton connection. "He's not on the Hillary payroll, but he's on the Hillary bandwagon, and that should be disclosed as much as we can," Klein told The Times. "I wasn't comfortable with it myself as I watched it."

Behind The Scenes in Las Vegas

Wolf Blitzer & Bill Schneider photo: CNN

Did you miss last night's CNN debate? The debate will be rebroadcast on CNN several times this weekend. (All times listed are ET.)

• Saturday: 6p, 10p
• Sunday: 1a, 4a, 6p, 10p
• Monday: 1a, 4a

Gloria Borger & Wolf Blitzer photo: CNN

Want to watch the debate right now? The debate is also available for download from CNN's website at: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/16/nv.debate.video/index.html.

The debate is available in both iPod compatible and Microsoft Windows Media formats.

photo: CNN

This week's CNN All Access podcast takes a behind the scenes look at the Las Vegas debate.

The podcast is available for download at: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/services/podcasting/allaccess/rss/~5/185943597/all.access.episode.i.74.cnn.m4v.

Campbell Brown & John Roberts photo: CNN

The behind the scenes look includes insights from:

• Sam Feist, CNN's Political Director
• Wolf Blitzer
• Campbell Brown
• John Roberts.

You can also view the clip below.

While browsing through CNN's debate web page, I came across this cartoon by Mike Mikula. Don't you just love the dealer?

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In a press release, CNN announced a new assignment for correspondent Kyung Lah. Below are a few excerpts:

CNN Newsource correspondent Kyung Lah has been appointed as a Tokyo-based international correspondent assigned to cover Japan and other regional assignments; it was announced today by Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering for CNN.

Lah recently worked on assignment in Tokyo for CNN International covering a broad range of business, technology and sporting stories including the dramatic China Air plane crash in Okinawa and growing concern over the safety of nuclear facilities situated in earth quake zones.

“To be able to recruit such a strong candidate for an international assignment from within CNN shows the depth of skills and talent that we have across our networks,” Khosravi said. “Kyung has a real passion for international news, and her Newsource experience will be invaluable as she serves the demands of CNN’s many networks and services.”

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Mystery Journalist

Can you name this CNN journalist?

Let us know who you think it is and we'll reveal this journalist's identity in Sunday's post.

A Debate, A Fit Nation and A Speedy Recovery

Tonight was the CNN Democratic Debate from Las Vegas, NV. Wolf Blitzer moderated the debate along with John Roberts (birthday boy), Campbell Brown (first official onscreen duty), Suzanne Malveaux and the best political team in the business. Here are some pictures from the debate.

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Last night, CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta moderated the network’s 2007 “Fit Nation Solution Summit,” a forum on public health and obesity at Time Warner Center in New York City, with featured guest former President Bill Clinton, business people, community activists, and other civic leaders. During the event, CNN presented KaBOOM!, a nonprofit organization that unites communities and corporations to build playgrounds in underprivileged areas, with a check for $75K to build a playground in New Orleans , La.

Way to go Fit Nation!!!!

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As we reported on ATC last week, Nancy Grace gave birth to her twins. This past week Nancy was rushed to the hospital due to complications from the pregnancy. Nancy husband spoke with People magazine about Nancy's condition as well as the babies. We at ATC wish Nancy a speedy recovery so she can be with her beautiful new son and daughter.

Democrat Debates and Last Weeks Ratings

We'd like to wish John Roberts a very happy birthday!



Don't forget to tune in at 8 PM Thursday night for the Democrat debates from Las Vegas. Here's the rest of the CNN line up for debate day.

6 a.m.-9 a.m.
American Morning with John Roberts live on location in Las Vegas

4 p.m.-7 p.m.
The Situation Room with Blitzer live on location in Las Vegas

7 p.m.-8 p.m.
Lou Dobbs Tonight with Dobbs live on location in Las Vegas

8 p.m.-10 p.m.
CNN/Nevada Democratic Party Presidential Primary Debate

10 p.m.-11 p.m.
Special Anderson Cooper 360º post-debate program anchored by Anderson Cooper and featuring Blitzer, Roberts and Campbell Brown live on location in Las Vegas

11p.m.-1 a.m.
Replay of CNN/Nevada Democratic Party Presidential Primary Debate

ONE CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH WITHOUT EXTRA RATINGS DATA…^
RATINGS GURU LOOKS AT NOV. 5-9, 2007

Yes, a ratings researcher always wants more raw data to be able to interpret the audience figures as accurately as possible. But when only Adults 25-54 and Total Audience 2+ are available to us, there is just so much we can explain and be objective. Would I love to get an Adults 18+ breakout, an Adults 50+ breakout, an Adults 18-49 one and the Homes Using Television (HUT) levels for each night of the week so I would not have to guesstimate so much? Sure, but this is the real world and Nielsen isn’t in the habit of supplying blogs information.

Last week was a slight growth week for CNN, but it was for the others of the “big three” as well – Fox News and MSNBC. With November sweeps starting, television viewer tune-in is up for the medium as a whole and cable benefits from that. The question I have is who passed on my snarky Friday comment about Bill O’Reilly’s audience? They all rallied and gave him a night on Friday that topped his previous best. And not to get ahead of myself, as I am examining last week’s audience – this past Monday night even beat Friday. It was kind of a bumpy road for all last week, but let’s do some snooping...

8PM:

Fox News: 573,000
CNN: 145,000*
MSNBC: 289,000

Okay, it’s hard to argue a program that posts an average of 573,000 Adults 25-54 and ends the week with 691,000 isn’t a major factor in news information and commentary for Bill O’Reilly. But let’s not call it news, it isn’t. OUT IN THE OPEN didn’t fare well – it is down from last week, but the special investigation on Wrestling on Wednesday did far better than the week average. Monday and Thursday were just very low days for delivery really pulling down the average. Friday bounced back well for the program. It doesn’t seem viewers like substitute anchors – COUNTDOWN really suffered on Friday – off -36% from its week average when Keith Olbermann was not in the anchor chair. ESPN dropped about 2 million in audience, which helped Monday not be such a low rated night for the rest of cable – Raven/Steelers just were not an overpowering draw, although 9.8 million is a substantial audience in cable.

9PM:

Fox News: 455,000
CNN: 329,000
MSNBC: 153,000**

LKL is up 100,000 viewers on average in comparison to last week – and that’s a good thing. HANNITY & COLMES still continues to lead the pack and Dan Abrams had some real highs and lows to come up with an average higher than last week. Jerry Seinfeld was no help to LKL on Monday and nor was Robert Redford (gasp) on Tuesday. People sure wanted to see DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER apologize as Wednesday was the highest rated program with 504,000 viewers. It dropped when Dr. Phil showed up the next day to analyze DOG and his actions. Friday ended on a solid delivery for LKL with his UFO’s. Even Dan Abrams was up +11% over last week with November viewing levels increasing.

10PM:

Fox News: 361,000
CNN: 241,000
MSNBC: 191,000

AC360 in coming in second in the time period for three nights out of five, helped boost the program +13% over last week’s lackluster performance. Still, MSNBC gave 360 a run for its
money on Monday and Wednesday. MSNBC Wednesday featured Charles Manson/Vampire Killers to boost I guess what you would call the “train wreck” audience. For the most part, 360
stayed above the 250,000 average, but not enough to come close to GRETA. GRETA peaked with a high of 416,000 on Wednesday, so clearly with such a strong night at 10PM, Television
sets in the US were turned on in greater numbers than other nights – the industry term is HUTS – Homes Using Television. Anchor substitutions hit 360 as well as ESPN on Monday – the lowest rated night of the week for the program coming in at 191,000. MSNBC’s doc/investigation block continues to have highs and lows.

Let me know if you have any questions!
Ratings Guru

*4 Day OUT IN THE OPEN applied to 5 days; special aired Wednesday.
**4 Day DAN ABRAMS applied to 5 days; Doc Block airs on Fridays.
^Courtesy Nielsen Media Research, Adults 25-54 LIVE + SAME DAY (LS) Fast Track Nationals.