In this edition: Dick Cheney should be happy the only child he gets asked about is Mary; Barbara Starr gets it wrong more than once; Google search & the 08 election; the shows media buyers are scared of; Black enough?; House GOP strategizing with FCC chairman?; Olbermann re-ups; Obama v. media; a book recommendation from yours truly; ratings; and so much more...
Thoughts, and Then, the News
If you’re concerned about consolidated media control, then, consider buying Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media or requesting it at your local library. It’s a new book by Eric Klinenberg.
Now for the news:
Obama v. Media
Link... Good for Obama. He’s challenging a media narrative. All too often the media sticks to a narrative, even if the evidence for it isn’t there and even if there’s plenty of evidence suggesting that the media is downright false. It’s intellectually lazy for the media to pull this BS all the time.
In a question-and-answer session this morning, Obama criticized "one of the narratives" about him showing up in the mainstream media.
Summed up, he went on, the narrative says that "I can deliver a pretty good speech" but that it's all rhetoric and no detail. [...]
"The problem isn't that the information's not out there," Obama told reporters.
"You've been reporting on how I look in a swimsuit," he said, a reference to the recent publication of pictures of him on a Hawaiian beach and subsequent commentary about it. [...]
As he left the room [in Ames, IA], Obama paused to answer the question of a teenage student who attended the press conference. She asked about education.
Obama answered her, then pointed to the reporters leaning in to listen.
"Take some notes, guys," he said. "That's how you do it."
The right-wing is gunning for him and so are the morons in the media. Good luck, Senator! Jon Friedman at Marketwatch tells Obama to stop complaining because of the positive media coverage Obama gets. Positive... you mean like that fake madrassa story? Or answering a million and one questions about if he’s black enough? Positive coverage or not, the media has a major problem when it sticks to a narrative even though there’s no evidence to back it up. I don’t see how the media portraying Obama as a lightweight is positive coverage, especially when he’s got more years in government than Mitt Romney... and Romney isn’t facing the same questions about experience.
The Media to BushCo: You Guys Can Fool Us Again
At some point some of these reporters and editors just need to be fired, because they aren’t fact checking or digging deep enough for real answers. They’re playing stenographers again.
OY
There’s just something wrong with the people working at cable news.
In just two days, Smith's demise consumed 21 percent of all programming monitored by PEJ on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel for the week - including a mind-boggling 50 percent Thursday (the day she died) and Friday.
Policy debate over Iraq and the '08 presidential race came in second and third at 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively, over the week, according to PEJ's News Coverage Index from Feb. 4 to 9. [...]
And across all media news platforms combined, the 39-year-old sex symbol's death was third - behind Iraq policy debate and war coverage and ahead of the '08 race and the astronaut scandal.
With new revelations seeping to the surface almost daily, the Smith story isn't losing any traction, either, Jurkovitz says.
"My sense is that it's not going away. It has spawned enough angles that I have to imagine there are a number of additional elements that will create more [ratings] spikes in the news."
HELP!
RWCM Watch
Credit Where It’s Due
Media People & In the Field
News & Notes on Media orgs, Programming, Specials, etc.
- NBCU, News Corp, and Viacom trying to form alternative to YouTube?
- CNN passed on airing Nevada Pres 08 Dem debate, so it went to FNC.
- Congrats to the folks behind Colorado Confidential. They do great work, and they’re getting recognized by the CO SPJ!
- Various members of the media were interviewed for Frontline’s recent special on news reporting and the war in Iraq. There are transcripts of all 50 interviews up right now. The producer of Frontline’s film ‘News War’ chatted with WaPo.com viewers/readers here.
- Tribune sues FNC over "Red Eye" show.
State of the Media, Trends, Research Reports, Innovations
Among the broadcast networks, Fox is most likely to air offensive shows, according to respondents, at 28 percent, well ahead of ABC and MyNetworkTV, both at 12 percent.
The Audience: Ratings, Circulation, & Ad Rates, etc.
- Sunday Talk Ratings via Hotline 2/15: "For the week of 2/11, NBC's "Meet the Press," won with a 3.1 rating/8 share and 4.294M viewers. ABC's "This Week" had a 2.2 rating/6 share with 2.867M viewers. CBS' "Face the Nation" had a 1.9 rating/5 share with 2.554M viewers. "Fox News Sunday" came in with a 1.1 rating/3 share and 1.565M viewers"
- 60 Minutes with Barack Obama interview nets 14.2M viewers.
- Number of HDTV homes to treble by 2011
- Magazine stats: Celeb Mags Soar; Business Mags Mixed
Newsie’s Media News Report is a compilation of recent media news; it was formerly known as Media News Monday. If you have any media news to add, please do so. I don’t often post Media Matters stuff, because almost everyone already either links to or visits that site. Same with Greg Sargent’s The Horse’s Mouth at Talking Points Memo. For more RWCM watch & Media News: Penndit's News, Media News, and RWCM Watch Links. I get the advertising, public relations, targeting voters information, and media research from a variety of sources. Cross-posted at Penndit. For previous editions, search my diaries or Penndit.
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