Last night I wrote about American TV coverage of the tumult in Egypt entering a new phase with the arrival of such network and cable anchors as ABC's Christiane Amanpour and CNN's Anderson Cooper over the weekend. Read it here.

Add Katie Couric and Brian Williams to the list. CBS News plans to broadcast its evening newscast from Cairo Tuesday night -- a day when more than a million protesters are expected to march, according to Al Jazeera TV, which has led the way in coverage so far despite the best efforts of Egyptian authorities to shut down the Qatar-based broadcaster.

Williams, of the top-rated NBC Nightly News, could be on-air Monday night from Egypt is all goes according to plan, according to TV Newser. Read that here.

I wonder if the real pressure for change generated by the people in the street (and a constellation of  economic and social forces in Egyptian life) is not ratcheted up ever higher when the anchors of the major American networks and cable channels arrive and set up camp.

My gut tells me that their presence does jigger the equation so much any more with all the other sources of coverage and communication. But I am glad they are there. Where the anchorman or anchorwoman goes, so flows the greatest resources and air time.

By the way, beyond the live streaming that you can see from Al Jazeera on your computer, there is at least one outlet for limited TV coverage from both Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic. Satellite Provider DirecTV carries LinkTV weeknights at 10 on Channel 375.

On Friday night, I saw the best, ground-up, in-the-street imagery from Cairo and Alexandria that I have seen since coverage started. It was vastly different from the more omniscent, but distant, overhead shots that the U.S. cable channels and networks tend to favor. (From the hotel room windown down.)

If you don't already have it, here is the link for Al Jazeera online: http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/.

Here is the release from CBS News on Couric:

The CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC announced today that CBS News Anchor and Managing Editor Katie Couric will anchor the broadcast and report from Cairo, Egypt, beginning Tuesday, Feb. 1 (6:30 PM, ET).  Couric will join CBS News team members already in place in Egypt, including Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Lara Logan, CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann, and CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. Executive Producer Rick Kaplan will accompany Couric on the trip.

 CBS News' ongoing coverage of "Egypt in Crisis" can be found online at http://bit.ly/icjLJc.
 

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Egypt
        

American TV coverage of the tumult in Egypt entered a new phase Sunday with the arrival of top network and cable anchors on the scene.

The day began for many American viewers with the sight of ABC's Christiane Amanpour on the ground in Cairo as military jets flew overhead and ended with a special two-hour live report on CNN at 9 p.m. anchored in part by Anderson Cooper who was also in Egypt.

I am sure TV insiders and some critics will start yapping soon about "big foot" anchormen and anchorwomen showing up and sucking the oxygen out of the room. Forget it. I thought both telecasts were impressive, and served both viewers and their news organizations well.

Take a look at Amanpour, who has been struggling to find her voice as a Sunday morning public affairs anchor on the third-place "This Week with Christiane Amanpour," back in her correspondent's khaki jacket gathering information, interviewing key figures, and synthesizing all of it at a million miles a minute.

Cooper was equally impressive serving as one leg of the three-part anchoring team that included Wolf Blitzer in Washington and Isha Sesay, of CNN International, in Atlanta. If developments in Egypt continue in the direction they look to be headed, I hope CNN sticks with this team. It is very impressive, and it has the same sense of authority that Amanpour brought to her telecast Sunday -- something both "This Week" and CNN prime-time have been struggling with.

I'll get some video of Cooper's work in Tahrir Square up as soon as CNN posts it or sends an embed code my way. Even though much of Sunday night's show was videotape because of the time difference, I love these live prime-time recaps of the day's events on big, volatile stories like this. I can't watch one channel all day, but I can do an hour at night if I trust the news team.

And this needs to be said, that while CNN had two hours of live coverage from Egypt and elsewhere last night, MSNBC was showing "To Catch a Predator" reruns from "Dateline." This is the same MSNBC that was questioning CNN's journalistic judgment last week in its coverage of the State of the Union speech.

One last thing on the Amanpour video, what did you think of her interview with Mohamed ElBaradei? I was impressed, especially with how focused she was in getting him to respond to what the Obama administration has been saying. There is not a shred of doubt after this interview as to how disappointed ElBaradei is in President Obama's response.

"To ask a dictator to implement democracy after 30 years is an oxymoron," ElBaradei says.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Egypt
        

"Welcome to breaking news, Piers."

That's the on-air greeting Anderson Cooper extended to Piers Morgan Friday night when Cooper joined Morgan on-air during the 9 p.m. hour of live coverage of the tumult in Egypt.

I said I was going to hold off making a definitive judgment until I saw Morgan go live for a full show with a big breaking story.

Well, he went live, but as you can see from this clip, the producers at CNN and the correspondents in Egypt did almost all the work for him. In this 2 minute and 20 second clip CNN put up, he is on-air for all of 15 seconds by my clock. And the two brief questions he asked are exactly the kind a producer can whisper (or shout) in your ear. There is no reaction from him to what the correspondents say or any sense that he is engaged in what they are saying and trying to synthesize it.

CNN even included segments during Morgan's show Friday night featuring John King and Wolf Blitzer, two skilled live anchors and first-rate journalists. The Washington boys did all the heavy lifting, analysis and synthesis for him during their time on air. Maybe CNN senior management doesn't like the ratings King and Blitzer get, but let's hope they are reminded by events in Egypt of the extent to which the credibility on breaking news that CNN sells internationally depends on anchor/journalists like these two.

This is not a criticism of CNN. Morgan's commercial success is a big deal for CNN, and things are not going so well. Thursday night as others were covering Egypt, he had a canned interview with the Kardashians, of reality TV infamy. And to add insult to injury, the ratings tanked. He came in under 500,000, which is Parker-Spitzer country.

So, to put him out there live on such a big and fast-moving story Friday was a huge but unavoidable risk. They couldn't hide him forever on a story of this magnitude. To minimize the risk, CNN management treated him the way a smart NFL owner and coach might handle a young, inexperienced quarterback in a big game -- surrounding him with the best talent, calling every play for him and constantly talking him through it with instructions in his ear. Only Morgan's not young and inexperienced, is he?

I will offer more after the video. Please click ahead to read it.

Again, I don't blame CNN for putting Morgan into the mix this way. They have to try. But he added nothing as an analyst after the State of the Union speech earlier in the week, and in truth, anyone with a smart producer talking in his or her ear could have done as well or better than Morgan on the live Egypt coverage.

I am not trying to be hard on Morgan. Frankly, he looks nervous and tentative to me even in this clip -- and he looked worse across the hour. I empathize with the pressure he is under. But this is a big story, and I am sure CNN is paying him a nice salary to come through on stories like this. Furthermore, when Morgan pops off about kicking the competition's butt, as he did during CNN promotional parties and interviews for his show, he doesn't exactly invite empathy.

But what do you think? Did you see him Friday night as I did? What do you think of his performance?

And by the way, seeing Nic Robertson and Ben Wedeman in this clip, is a good reminder of something I have been thinking about all weekend as I watched cable coverage of this story. As much as we focus on cable TV hosts sitting safely in New York or Washington studios, there are correspondents (and sometimes their families) living and working in the midst of volatile and dangerous stories like this to bring information to us.

And for all the Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann posturing and madness, the hard and sometimes perilous work of international correspondents is also part of cable news.

Try to remember that the next time you are about to make a blanket indictment or dismissive remark about the entire medium.

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

In just two weeks, MTV's teens series "Skins" has become one of TV's most compelling dramas.

Unfortunately for the producers and MTV executives, that's only the case off-screen, where "Skins" is playing like a car wreck impossible to look away from.

Fearful of being connected to something that might wind up being judged "child porn" under various statutes, advertisers are bailing on the Brit-spinoff series, to the point where analysts say MTV could lose $2 million per episode if it decides to stick with the show. Meanwhile, more than half of all viewers have tuned out from Week 1 to Week 2, as the audience fell from 3.3 million to 1.6 million.

And just think: Baltimore, where the series was once possibly going to have been set and filmed, could have been at the center of all this misery. In addition to being known to millions of viewers of prime-time dramas as a city steeped in homicide and drugs, we could have also been showcased as a center of teen sex and porn.

The "city steeped in homicide and drugs," of course, is a reference to the image of Baltimore created by David Simon in HBO's "The Wire." Even though "The Wire" ended its run in 2008, it was back as a topic of debate again this month when Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III described the series as a "smear that will take decades to overcome." He added that Simon's depiction of Baltimore was "the most unfair use of literary license that we've borne witness to."

Simon countered in a response published in The Baltimore Sun by saying, "'The Wire' owes no apologies. ... We made things up, true. We have never claimed otherwise. But respectfully, with regard to our critique, we have slandered no one."

Be careful what you wish for when it comes to local TV production and a city's image. That's one of the morals — the Baltimore one — from the story of "Skins." There are others involving marketplace forces, government regulation, sexualization of adolescence and the question of whether there really are any limits in media and morals these days.

In 2009, Liz Gateley, senior vice president of series development for MTV, told The Sun that the producers planned to set and film the series in Baltimore: "I think they chose Baltimore because it has diverse ethnic groups and socioeconomic levels and urban and suburban areas," she said.

Besides the desperately needed production dollars that any filming would have added to the local economy, just being the fictional home for a show that generates passion among young viewers — which the original British version did — seemed like a good thing for the city.

But then in September came this e-mail from co-creator Bryan Elsley: "Although we initially considered shooting 'Skins' in Baltimore, we have always preferred that the series should have a non-specific setting, so we are going for a general eastern seaboard environment. This allows us more freedom to tell stories about whatever we think relevant and funny to young people."

That's all MTV and Elsley were willing to offer by way of explanation after several weeks of e-mails and phone calls trying to find out why they had snubbed Baltimore for a Toronto production base and non-specific urban setting.

Any sense of loss, however, quickly evaporated when the Canadian-made MTV version of "Skins" debuted this month.

Based on just the trailers, Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, issued a statement saying, "'Skins' may well be the most dangerous television show for children that we have ever seen."

PTC is a nonpartisan educational organization that lobbies for "responsible entertainment." It claims 1.3 million members, and its opinion of the series has only gotten worse since the first episodes.

"MTV appears to be deliberately targeting teens with a marketing campaign that makes light of lying to parents and participating in all manner of harmful, irresponsible, illegal and adult-themed behavior," Winter says.

The series "makes sexual objects of almost every single one of its characters and asks not only for viewers to approve, but to actively participate by posting their own secret stories" online, he adds.

Elsley responded last week with a statement calling "Skins" a "very simple" and "rather old-fashioned series" that captures the "reality of teen life."

Stressing that the series seeks to see teen culture from the inside out, Elsley said of his characters (and teenagers in general), "Their morals may not be the same as their parents and teachers, but they are nevertheless highly developed and active in their world."

He also offered a version of the "these are not bad kids, they just make bad choices" argument, and basically concluded by saying adults who complain about the series just don't get it.

Based on what has aired so far, "Skins" does sexualize adolescence to a degree seen in no other American TV series. Worse, in the case of the female teen characters, it presents some of them in the manner of soft porn — particularly when it comes to lesbian identity. And these are characters that definitely are made to look in dress, manner and movement more like girls than young women.

If the ratings were huge and advertisers were clamoring to buy in instead of running for their lives, such cultural complaints might not matter. But given the economic issues and the threat of government anti-porn-law penalties, it looks like this time they might.

Either way, it's not Baltimore's problem.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

I have a car in a snow drift somewhere between my home and the Sun office that I have to go and dig out. And I have a Sunday column for print that's way late.

But I am still going to take a brief moment before dealing with such important stuff to address the most insane thing this side of Keith Olbermann thinking he had anything in common with Edward R. Murrow: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow criticizing the journalism of CNN because it covered the response of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann to President Obama's State of the Union address.

Here is the video. I include it in part because MSNBC sent me a link late Wednesday night saying they thought I might be interested since I praised CNN and Fox News for covering Bachmann's brief response. You can read it here.

The essence of my critique: The Tea Party has played a major role in shaping the new Congress, and it has already had a significant effect on American life. Given that, if you aren't sure about whether or not to cover, you err on the side of inclusion -- not exclusion. Provide citizens with as much information as you can so that they can make the best decisions about their lives.

But check out the video MSNBC thinks I should see and note that Maddow's argument boils down to this: Bachmann should not have been covered because she was not "ordained" by the Republican Party as its official responder.

This is the mentality of a lockstep party member, not a journalist. Unless the party "ordains" someone to speak, they shouldn't be covered by the press, in Maddow's thinking.

Memo to Maddow: That's not the way journalists think. We bring citizens as much information as we can whether THE PARTY ordains it or not. Just like we don't let the executive branch tell us which news operation is a "legitimate" journalistic enterprise, and which isn't, we don't let political parties tell us who we should and shouldn't cover. Journalism 101 at Goucher College where I teach.

CNN was right in covering Bachmann. And by the way, there are interns at CNN's Washington bureau who have better journalism credentials than you do, Ms. Party Operative Think. In fact, I have a West Highland terrier named Bugsy that has better journalism credentials and chops than you do.

Here's the video with Maddow acting like she knows what she is talking about. The ordained line comes at about 1:15 if you don't want to wade though seven minutes of smirk and uninformed snark.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NBC News has some outstanding journalists both in the field and in management. You don't see them saying this crazy political stuff. Someone might suggest to Ms. Party Think that she concentrate on trying to get competitive with Fox News on a nightly basis -- or come up with a way of addressing the civic life of the nation on election and SOTU nights so that it doesn't consistently leave MSNBC in last place on the big nights of American politics.

And here's a Z on TV Bonus Pick of the Week: A piece I wrote about Rachel Maddow as the self-important poetry editor of a literary magazine at a weird little prep school known as Prime Time MSNBC. This is her going off the rails after her mentor, Keith Olbermann, was suspended in November.

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (41)
        

Fox News was far and away the most watched cable news network during and immediately after Tuesday night's State of the Union speech.

Here are the ratings from Nielsen Media Research. (The times for when the post-speech coverage started and ended vary by channel. But these are the times the three cable channels themselves submitted to Nielsen in these categories.)

During the speech (which started at 9:10 p.m.):

Fox News channel: 4,960,000 persos in overall viewership (1,634,000 in 25-54)
CNN: 2,984,000 overall (1,200,000 in 25-54)
MSNBC: 2,504,000 overall (836,000 in 25-54)

(Click ahead for total audience size)

Post-speech analysis:

Fox News Channel: 5,444,000 in overall viewership (1,756,000 in 25-54)
CNN: 3,010,000 overall (1,230,000 in 25-54)
MSNBC: 2,357,000 in P2+ (739,000 in 25-54)

Did you watch? If so, what network or channel? Why?

The total audience was 43 million -- that's down considerably from the previous speech.

Here is the Nielsen release:

On Tuesday, January 25, 2011 President Obama delivered his State of the Union address. The address was carried live from approximately 9:00 PM- 10:15 PM on 11 networks. The sum of the average audience for those networks was 42,789,947 viewers, with a combined household rating of 26.6. The networks carrying the address included ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, TEL, UNI, CNN, Centric, CNBC, FOXNC, and MSNBC. Viewership to last night’s address was down 18% from his address on February 24, 2009 and down 11% from his State of the Union address last year on January 27, 2010.

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

How to cover the Tea Party?

That's been a question challenging the media for quite a while, and Tuesday night was no exception with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann offering a Tea Party response to President Barack Obama's speech following the official GOP response from U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.

I don't think most of the media handled it very well. But I am sure there is room for much debate on this.

Frankly, I was surprised to see that CNN was the only cable or network channel to offer live coverage of Bachmann's response. At least, that's the best I could determine with my channel hopping and calls to network and cable publicists afterward.  Not even C-SPAN seemed to be offering live coverage of this unprecedented response-beyond-the-response.

While I have been critical of some of CNN's recent political and breaking news coverage, I think this was an excellent call by management. Bachmann did a better job than anyone else Tuesday night of giving voice to the pain still felt by many in the nation who lost jobs or saw the value of their homes drop dramatically, and CNN made sure she was heard. Good for CNN.

(I am going to be nice and not make a big deal out of CNN trying to use this important national ritual to further promote talk show host Piers Morgan, who clearly had nothing to offer by way of analysis but was seated at the pundits' table nevertheless.)

Fox News also did some very good work Tuesday -- going the extra mile after the networks went home for the night. It included solid Tea Party coverage by Greta Van Susteren.

Fox News didn't carry Bachmann's response live, but it did stream her words live on FoxNews.com and then offer excerpts shorty after 11 p.m. on a telecast from the Capitol anchored by Van Susteren. And I thought Van Susteren was excellent in re-capping what had happened during the evening, and then offering informed and sound interviews with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.

Van Susteren and Fox News were exemplary in bringing varied points of view into its discussion of the speeches -- and treating all sides with respect. Fox News would not exactly be considered the friendly confines for U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader, but she was treated as respectfully by Van Susteren as any GOP or Tea Party conservative. Good for Fox News and Van Susteren.

On the other hand, and again I was channel hopping, but I didn't see any coverage of the Tea Party response on MSNBC. Nor, in fact, did I see any conservatives period on the MSNBC coverage anchored by Rachel Maddow.

MSNBNC used the same set-up that it used for its debased election night coverage in November: its prime-time hosts and Washington Post associate editor Eugene Robinson. Only this time, ringleader Keith Olbermann, who parted ways with the cable channel on Friday, was gone. 

Without the adolescent Olbermann, the tone was more professional -- there is no doubt about that. And MSNBC is better for it. 

But again, I didn't see the "team" offering any kind of substantial conservative assessment of the speech. What I did see was lots of Valerie Jarrett, the most partisan of the senior Obama aides. She seemed to be given lots of time to keep saying over and over how much the president is working to bring everyone together. Again, maybe I missed the conservative viewpoint in my channel hopping.

There is an argument to be made that if you cover the Tea Party speech in the same way that you cover the official GOP response, where do you stop? What about the Libertarians or the Green Party?

Those are questions news executives will continue to wrestle with. But given the impact that the Tea Party has already had on the November elections and the makeup of this Congress, I think I would have erred on the side of full coverage for Bachmann and the Tea Party. And, again, I am surprised by the many outlets who chose to ignore this groundbreaking event.

I wonder how members of the Tea Party feel about that.

MORNING-AFTER FOLLOW-UP 10:45 a.m. Wednesday: In response to my email inquiry Tuesday night, MSNBC informs me that after the telecast following the immediate post-speech analysis that I reviewed, MSNBC offered an 11 p.m. live  edition of the "Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell." That hourlomg program included an interview with U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a Republican from Illinois. At midnight, a live version of "The Rachel Maddow Show" had an interview with Doug Heye, former communications director for the Republican National Committee.

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (34)
        

If you are a fan of the Food Network's "Ace of Cakes," here's a chance to meet some of the crew from Baltimore's Charm City Cakes and be part of an effort to bring a bit of Johns Hopkins Medicine to New Orleans.

Here are the details as provided by Geof Manthorne, of Charm City Cakes:

Charm City Cakes is hosting a charity gala with the Hopkins
Student Nurse Relief Corps to assist in their efforts to provide
healthcare and resources to communities affected by natural disaster.
The organization is heading to New Orleans in March to continue 6
years of service in the NOLA communities that still struggle in the
aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

Join Charm City Cakes and the SNRC for a night of hors d'oeuvres,
open bar, dancing, and of course, cake! A silent auction will feature
items from local Baltimore businesses. All proceeds benefit the SNRC.

Sat. 1.29.2011
Metro Gallery
1700 North Charles Street | Baltimore, MD
8pm - 11pm
Cocktail attire encouraged

*Pre-Party Reception with Geof and crew from 7pm - 8pm

*General Admission: $75
*Pre-Party + General: $99
*Student: $40

Tickets available at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/138885 

Watching this last season of "Ace" and having recently completed a cover story on chef Duff Goldman and his team as they prepare to open a branch of the bakery in Los Angeles, I was struck by what a great image of Baltimore the show has offered internationally during its 10 seasons on the Food Network. 

With an audience of 2.5 million viewers a week at the peak of its popularity, the series showed a young, artistic, edgy and caring community of friends and co-workers interacting with some of the city's most impressive institutions, rituals and communities. (My piece will run in the Sun's magazine on Sunday.)

And the fund raiser this weekend is a good example of Charm City Cakes interacting with one of those institutions and communities: the Johns Hopkins Student Nurse Relief Corps.

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The calendar might say we are just starting 2011, but we are well into the 2012 political year at the network and cable news channels. And NBC News/MSNBC Tuesday morning announced that former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has been hired as political analyst.

Steve Capus, president of NBC News, said the hiring of Rendell, who has often been a guest on NBC and MSNBC, is effective immediately.

“Governor Rendell has never been afraid to share his thoughtful analysis on national and local issues and he couldn’t be a better fit for NBC News,” Capus said in a statement. “His extensive experience serving the people of Pennsylvania gives him a unique perspective and we’re thrilled to have him on board.”

“I’m excited about this new opportunity with NBC because I believe our country faces critical challenges in the next two years," Rendell said in a network release. "The ability to have my voice heard and create an impact on the political discourse is exciting to me and is an extension of my continued commitment to public life.”

OK, let me say just one thing. As much as this seems like it could be a solid move by NBC News, somebody needs to tell Rendell he can cut the politician talk about his "continued commitment to public life."

 This is a job for a commercial enterprise that he was just handed. You can adhere to the best standards of our news profession and do it honorably, and that is indeed a public service. But unlike the phony politicians who endlessly praise and thank each other for "their service to our country" when all they do is serve in Congress or the administration with great benefits and fairly fat paydays, we just try to serve our readers and viewers, and consider their loyalty to our brand thanks enough.

Here's some of the NBC News release:

Rendell served two terms as Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003-2011. As chief executive of the nation’s 6th most populous states, Rendell oversaw a $28.43 billion budget and tackled issues from education reform to taxes to creating jobs. Committed to make government more responsible to the public and more responsive to the public’s needs, Governor Rendell cut spending and improved efficiency to save more than $1 billion, and pursued a legislative agenda that included commonsense political reforms to put progress ahead of partisanship.

His unprecedented strategic investments energized Pennsylvania’s economy, revitalized communities, improved education, protected the environment and expanded access to health care to all children and affordable prescription drugs for older adults.

Under Governor Rendell’s leadership, Pennsylvania’s economy rebounded sharply. When he became Governor, the commonwealth faced a projected budget deficit of $2.4 billion. As one of his first acts, Governor Rendell cut government spending to close that deficit and implemented programs and policies to apply business principles of productivity and cost-savings to the operation of state government.

Prior to serving as Governor of Pennsylvania, Rendell was general chair of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 Presidential election.

As Mayor of Philadelphia from 1992-1999, Rendell led what The New York Times called “the most stunning turnaround in recent urban history.” The subject of the book Prayer for the City by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Buzz Bissinger, Rendell was called “one of America’s best, most interesting mayors.”

Before serving as Mayor, Rendell was elected district attorney of the City of Philadelphia for two terms from 1978 through 1985. Rendell also served as general chair of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 Presidential election, and teaches government and politics courses at the University of Pennsylvania.

An Army veteran, Rendell holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the Villanova Law School.

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

Jim Lehrer, who anchored his first State of the Union address for PBS in 1976, will be at the anchor desk again Tuesday night when President Barack Obama addresses Congress and the nation.

The press has probably never needed the steady hand and solid journalistic instincts of the 76-year-old broadcaster more than it does today as both media and national life undergo wrenching changes. Journalistic mainstays like CNN are changing their games in hopes of finding larger audiences.

Meanwhile, the angry rhetoric on cable TV encourages and reinforces deepening divides among the electorate. Re-invention is everywhere in the media these days, including PBS, and Lehrer's "NewsHour" is no different.

As fabulous as new digital and social media can be in instantly reaching diverse audiences with news and information, there is a dangerous tendency to let new technology and methods of distribution change the way journalism is done in this country without any kind of meaningful debate about the values that are being cast aside in some cases.

I talked to Lehrer Monday about the connection between TV and politics on events like Tuesday night's State of the Union. We also talked about a recent survey that found PBS the most trusted source of news in the nation -- and the effort he and the "NewsHour" team are undertaking to bring Saturday and Sunday newscasts to PBS.

Q: What do you see as the goal of TV coverage of an event like State of the Union Tuesday night?

LEHRER: Well, this is one of those few, uniting events we have in the country where everybody on just about every television outlet --or radio or online of any other outlet they want to use -- where everybody in the country has not only the opportunity but the inclination to hear what the President has to say in the State of the Union Address. It is one of the few serious shared experiences that we as citizens have.

So, I take it very seriously along with everybody who watches, because it's not only what the President himself has to say about what he's got in mind. But it is also important what the atmosphere is like. There's always an environment, a set of circumstances, that have set the stage beyond the real stage -- in other words, have set the fact stage. So these things are always very, very important in and of themselves, but mostly they're important because just everybody in the country who cares about the country is listening or watching.

Q: I agree totally with you about the SOTU as a special kind of "unifying" event, and yet maybe as an indication of how divided and angry we have become as a nation, my most recent recollections are of moments like the one that featured a congressman calling the president a liar.

LEHRER: There was also the presidential speech when Justice Alito shook his head [to show disagreement with what the president said]. But I look upon those [moments] as part of that process. Those speeches were given at a divisive time in our country, and that divisiveness came through. And we'll see what happens tomorrow night. Everyone says, 'Well, we're still divided, and yet we're on a comity kick. And we'll see what happens. We'll get some signs of it. I mean, there are some obvious signs, because some of these Democrats and going to sit with Republicans and all of that. So, we'll see some of the obvious stuff. But the event itself -- beyond the words -- will say something, too, that some of us will pick up on.

Q: Jim, this is something else I wanted to talk about, and it involves two things. Last week, the Public Policy Institute came out with the survey that found PBS the most trusted source of news and information. that's, of course, a good thing. But when you pair that with the dismay recently voiced by the PBS ombudsman over the fact that on the weekend of the Tucson shootings, PBS was not covering the events. And that is always the case on weekends ... So, can you talk about the fact that you have one of the last, best news operations doing traditional, fact-based journalism, and Americans say they trust it, and yet you are not available to Americans on weekend for lack of resources or whatever?

LEHRER: At the risk of sounding self-serving, I think there is ample and neutral evidence to prove that there is a need for the kind of journalism we practice now more than ever. As the proliferation of news and opinion and information generally continues in all kinds of ways, there is a growing re-need for people who are trusted to sort through it and help the average person to figure out not what to believe but what exactly happened and what the opinions are about it.

In other words, take the story and wring it out from beginning to end -- from the headlines, to what happened, to what it means, to what people can think about it on two or three different sides. That is an old-fashioned journalism idea, and there is ample evidence that people out there are realizing, 'Hey, there is so much out there, I need some help. Who can I trust to sort through this for me? I don't want to spend all day watching the goddamn cable television or reading blogs or listening to people yell at each other on the radio. But I do want to get a flavor of that. I do want to have a sense of the new voices, in addition to the old traditional voices.'

What we in public broadcasting are set to do is to fill that legitimate need. We're prepared to do it. The stage is set for us to expand in large and dramatic ways.  We don't yet have the resources to do it. We have not done well in making our case. But I think we are going to begin to do that better -- at least, we're trying. And when I see we, I mean the big 'we' and the little 'we.' We need to let people know we are there, and we are prepared to do this. Let us demonstrated to you that we can be trusted, that there is a place where you can go...

I think the golden age of news and public affairs on public media -- on public television in particular -- is about to start. We're in the beginning phases. We are the future for all of those people who are worried about how we get information in a new and loud and crazy information, democratic process. we're it -- and we just have to step up to plate and be there in ways that people will support us.

Q: Jim, is it financially prohibitive for you guys to have at least a bare-bones, weekend operation today?

LEHRER: It's possible. We just don't have the resources right now. During the first Gulf War we did Saturday and Sunday versions of the NewsHour, and we've been prepared to do it ever since. But we don't have the resources right now, and we've got to keep in mind, it's got to be more than just the headlines. The headlines are already available in other places. We've got to take a NewsHour approach on Saturday and Sunday, just like we do Monday through Friday, or it is not working.

Q: Jim, I'm not even talking Saturday and Sunday Broadcasts necessarily, just a news operation that can gear up in case a big story breaks -- having a newsroom staff in place.

LEHRER: Yes, but there is also the matter of expectations. If it's a weekday, well let's say today. There's an explosion at the Moscow Airport and 31 people have died, and you're working right now, but you want to know what the hell happened, who did it, what the deal is, all of that. I don't have time to do it now. But I know that I can find out tonight on the NewsHour. That's an expectation.

But if that explosion happened on a Sunday, you would not have an expectation to turn on the NewsHour Sunday night because we're not there. So, we have to do two things. We have to create the ability to do it -- and gather the resources for that. And then, we have to create an expectation so people say, 'Hey,these guys are there every day -- not just Monday through Friday.' But that is very doable. The only thing that's keeping it from happening is money.

Q: How about your future at the NewsHour?

LEHRER: Well, as you know I have  stepped back a little, and I am going to continue to do that. I am very keen on the idea of a team approach to this rather than a big-time anchorperson approach. So, there will come a time and maybe some day after I've been gone for five years, someone will say, "Whatever happened to that guy who talked like he was from Kansas or Texas or some goddamn place? What happened to him? My idea is to drift away. But I'm feeling great. I'm not tired. And I still hear the sirens. And as long as I hear the sirens, I'll still be there to find out where the hell they're going.

Live coverage anchored by Jim Lehrer will begin on PBS at 9 p.m. Tuesday. There will be an menu of new media coverage as well. For details click here.

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Here's video from my appearance on CNN's "Reliable Sources," including one diagreement over Keith Olbermann between me and former MSNBC reporter-anchor David Shuster, a self-desribed friend of the show host who abruptly left the MSNBC airwaves Friday night.

I promised in my Friday night post to offer analysis of the legacy of Olbermann from his tenure at MSNBC. Some of that can be heard in the video. But I'll offer a bit more after the break. Please click ahead for that analysis after viewing the video.

And While Shuster questioned my characterization of election night coverage, here's a link to my post and two pieces of video from MSNBC's coverage that I put up the day after the election. You be the judge if I mis-charcacterized it on Sunday's show.

The history referenced on the tape of Olbermann making me one of his "worst persons" dates back to some two years ago when I said on "Reliable Sources" that the kind of angry and partisan rhetoric in which he trafficks is dangerous to this country. I included Bill O'Reilly, of Fox News, in that complaint at the time.

I don't think there is anyone today who would disagree with me about the dangers of nasty, partisan, personal attacks delivered by hosts on cable TV shows.

But because of that history, I gave myself a couple of days to think about Olbermann's legacy. I wanted to try and find something positive to say -- I wanted to make every effort to be fair.

But here is the bottom line: After two days, I cannot think of anything positive to say about Olbermann. He was/is a destructive and dangerous force in the conversation of American politics.

Cable TV has become the primary place in American culture for our conversation about politics. Cable TV is the place where politics and media meet. Yes, it happens on the web and even in legacy newspapers and network TV newcasts, but on cable news channels it is the topic practically 24/7. As we saw in November, more viewers turned to Fox News than any network on election night. That was, by the way, a grossly under-reported story.

Because Olbermann had an audience of 1.1 million viewers a night, he mattered - not nearly as much as Bill O'Reilly who has three times as large an audience nightly on Fox. But, maybe twice as much as the ratings-impaired Parker-Spitzer on CNN, which has less than half Olbermann's audience.

Olbermann was reckless and had little regard for reporting, fact-checking or facts.

Remember when he made Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, a worst person for allegedly saying there was no room for "facts" in his businesses? Only Murdoch never said that. What he did say is that was there was no room for "fat."

Olbermann grabbed the quote off a sketchy transcript and never bothered to check it -- even though a freshman reporter on a college newspaper would know there is something wrong with the owner of one of the biggest news empires in the world saying his businesses have no room for "facts."

But the incorrect word matched the narrative in Olbermann's head, and so he ran with it instead of doing what any entry-level reporter would do. I tried to mention that Sunday when Shuster said Olbermann will do more "reporting" in whatever new job he ultimately takes up. My thought: He couldn't do less.

I have wriitten extensively anbout Olbermann's behavior on election night in November. He led the MSNBC crew of clowns in heckling, mocking and laughing in the face of conservative victors who were foolish enough to come on MSNBC. Journalistic institutions should not debase the political process and revile the will of the electorate that way.

Olbermann smeared countless people over the years, and MSNBC let him get away with it. If the arrival of Comcast has contributed to getting this reckless figure off the airwaves until his no-compete clause ends, then I have at least one reason to celebrate the takeover of NBC-Universal.

I have covered this industry too long to think Olbermann won't be back on-air somewhere as soon as that clause expires. That's a pity. But for now, I welcome the break, and think cable TV is much better for his departure.

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (134)
        

I am going to be part of panel on CNN's Reliable Sources Sunday discussing Keith Olbermann departure from MSNBC.

Also on the panel: American University professor Jane Hall, Newsday TV critic Verne Gay and former MSNBC anchor David Shuster. Howie Kurtz, Washington bureau chief of the Daily Beast, moderates.

The show starts at 11 a.m. (EST).

In my Friday night post on Olbermann's announcement I promised more analysis after I had a chance to "sleep on it." I am still reporting and processing the information I need to offer an informed analysis, and will post later today.

Meanwhile, you can read my Friday night Post and see video of Olbermann's on-air farewell to viewers here.

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

Keith Olbermann, the mercurial and controversial MSNBC host, announced on-air Friday night that he is leaving the cable channel immediately.

MSNBC chased the announcement by its top-rated host with two terse statements Friday night confirming the move and announcing a new prime-time lineup as of Monday, but offering no explanation. The first statement came as Olbermann's show was ending at 9 p.m.. The second came within 15 minutes of the show's conclusion.

"MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract," one statement from MSNBC said. "The last broadcast of 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors."

The second statement said that Lawrence O'Donnell, who launched a 10 p.m. weeknight show on the channel last fall, will take over Olbermann's key 8 p.m. time slot as of Monday. “The Ed Show,” hosted by Ed Schultz, will move from 6 to 10 p.m. next week, while Cenk Uygur, MSNBC contributor and host of the web show “The Young Turks,” will be "filling in as host of the 6 p.m." show.

While speculation centered on Comcast gaining approval for its takeover of NBC as a possible cause of Olbermann's departure, Comcast issued a statement Friday night denying any role.

“Comcast has not closed the transaction for NBC Universal and has no operational control at any of its properties including MSNBC. We pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBC Universal’s news operations.," the statement said.

Here's video of the resignation statement:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

While MSNBC seemed to have been caught off guard with its scrambled, after-the-fact statements, there has been speculation for months that the relationship between the mercurial host and the cable channel had become a deeply troubled one. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that Olbermann would have left without negotiations having taken place this week on the remainder of his contract.

Olbermann was believed to be making about $8 million a year with two more years to go on his contract. The 8 p.m. show is the key to prime-time success for a cable channel. It the block on which ratings success is built through the three-hour time period.

Though Olbermann was never a threat to the ratings supremacy of Bill O'Reilly's 8 p.m. program on the Fox News Channel, he did lift MSNBC into second place above the struggling CNN. Since joining MSNBC in 2003, he became the linchpin in its strategy of positioning itself as the liberal alternative to the Fox News network. Olbermann's show paved the way for Rachel Maddow to join the cable channel in 2008. He provided a solid and ideologically consistent lead-in to her 9 p.m. show.

MSNBC suspended Olbermann for two nights in November after it was reported by Politico that the former ESPN sportscaster had contributed to several Democratic candidates without approval from NBC News. While some analysts considered the two-day suspension a slap on the wrist, Olbermann's bosses were said to be outraged at both the contributions and the way Olbermann waved a petition from his fans in the face of MSNBC as if he were bigger and knew better than management at NBC News.

Management was also angry at the out-of-control election-night coverage anchored by Olbermann. Conservatives who appeared on MSNBC for live interviews after their victories were mocked and insulted by Olbermann and other MSNBC show hosts including O'Donnell and Maddow. But Olbermann was the ringleader for the unprofessional, adolescent behavior at the anchor desk. Read my account of it here and here.

As someone who has been one of Olbermann's "Worst Persons" several times, I am going to sleep on this news before offering analysis. I have said many times in many different venues that I thought Olbermann was a reckless and dangrous force in American television, and I do not feel any differently tonight about what Olbermann respresented. But let's leave it right there tonight before I go any farther. I am hopeful that prime-time cable will become a less irresponsible and toxic place with Olbermann gone at least for the next six months or one year usually demanded by no-compete contract language.

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (41)
        

At the end of four nights of premiere week for CNN's Piers Morgan, the story is mostly one of decline. From Monday night's opening interview with Oprah Winfrey to Thursday night's conversation with Ricky Gervais, Morgan lost  51 percent of his overall audience and 46 percent of the key cable news demographic of viewers 25 to 54 years of age.

The Gervais numbers have to be especially worrisome for CNN, since he seemed like someone who would attract a big audience in the wake of his controversial job of serving as host for the Golden Globes telecast Sunday. Gervais actually drew a smaller audience than Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state -- though he did better in the key demographic.

Morgan's show is expected to be somewhat guest-driven in terms of ratings -- unless viewers decide they really don't like the host. If that happens, CNN is going to be in even more prime-time trouble than it is now -- as hard as that might be to imagine.

Here's a snapshot from Nielsen Media Research of the ratings Monday through Thursday. As you can see, Morgan lost more than a million viewers across the four nights.

Thursday (Ricky Gervais)
Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity: 2,079,000 overall viewers (557,000 in 25-54 demographic)
CNN’s Piers Morgan: 1,025,000 (279,000)
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: 976,000 (264,000)

Wednesday(Condoleezza Rice):
Hannity: 1,974,000 overall (565,000 in 25-54)
Morgan: 1,028,000 (239,000)
Maddow: 1,094,000 (221,000)

Tuesday (Howard Stern):
Hannity: 2,182,900 overall (506,441 in 25-54)
Morgan: 1,273,193 (550,719)
Maddow: 1,125,947 (264,961)

Monday (Oprah Winfrey):
Hannity: 2,365,047 overall (599,800 in 25-54)
Morgan: 2,099,462 (520,519)
Maddow: 1,111,865 (342,013)

I am wondering what readers thought of Larry King's replacement.

Read my review of Morgan's Monday performance with Winfrey here. The short version: I was not impressed.

But, like I said at the time, I will hold off until I see him interviewing live on-the-fly in connection with a breaking news story.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

As much as I love what's happening with new media, I have to admit that I can't get enough of the dinosaur-that-roars story line with network news refusing to die. It shows how wrong-headed  one-dimensional media analysis can be.

Last week's ratings for "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams" go way beyond the refusing-to-die category -- telling the story instead of a vital franchise that looks to be finding new viewers when news and information matters most.

Last week, in the days following the shootings in Tucson, more than  10.5 million viewers a night watched “NBC Nightly News," according to Nielsen Media Research.

As NBC News points out in a release on the ratings, that is a bigger audience than those earned by original episodes of such prime-time series as ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” on Sunday and “The Bachelor” on Monday.

Williams anchored from Tucson on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights last week, and I think one of the things going on here besides the popularity of Williams and NBC "Nightly" might be the decline of CNN in recent months as a go-to place for breaking news and analysis on big national stories. As much as viewers are supposed to be leaving and never coming back to network news, I think these numbers suggest some of them are returning to NBC News -- at least, on big stories.

The other place cable viewers are going on big breaking stories, of course, is Fox News, which again led all cable competitors in the key hours and days after the shootings -- just as it did on election night and during the Chilean miners story.

For the week ending Jan. 16th, "Nightly" had 10.502 million viewers -- 1.366 million more than ABC "World News’" (which had 9.136 million). "Nightly" had 3.385 million more viewers than "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric” (which clocked in with 7.117 million).

The NBC News broadcast drew 11.8 million viewers on Tuesday night.

Here's a point of comparison (and contradiction) for all the stories that made it sound like wave after wave of viewers were abandoning network news at a breakneck pace.

In 2005, I did an interview with Jim Lehrer, of the PBS "NewsHour," in which the veteran anchorman took on the dinosaur characterization of broadcast news.

"I have been kind of amused by all this stuff," Lehrer said. "Everybody's saying, 'Well, it's the end of the anchorman era.' But then there's Brian Williams, who's got about 10 million people watching him every night on NBC, so what the ... is that all about? I've kept my powder dry on this. You're the first who asked me about it directly. But I've been amused, because I just don't get it."

That was more than five years ago, and Williams was drawing just under 10 million viewers a week.

Sure, the trend away from network news to new forms of media on a fragmented landscape is steady and inevitable.

But it isn't happening nearly as fast as conventional wisdom predicted it would. And at its high end, network news is still a cultural force to be reckoned with.

And that high end, includes both NBC and ABC News, which is also doing some outstanding work on Diane Sawyer's newscast.

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

What a great night in the new world of prime-time counter-programming.

I am old enough to remember when counter-programming meant one network putting a drama pitched to men on the air in the same time period that another network was airing a hit drama favored by women. And I thought that was bad.

But now in the new and downsized prime-time cable world of celebrity kiss-up interviews and ideological head banging, it means Piers Morgan debuting on CNN with one of the most unctuous, show-biz-gooey interviews this side of Ryan Seacrest, while Sean Hannity and Fox News give free rein to Ms. Blood Libel herself, Sarah Palin, Fox News analyst, animal-killing reality TV star and soon-to-be presidential candidate. Take our channels and our credibility, please.

I will hold off rendering a definitive judgment on Morgan's new show in the old Larry King Live time slot. I do so not because it is unfair to make a call after only one show. I used to believe that until I saw Parker-Spitzer, and I was more than willing to declare it D.O.A., seconds after its premiere. Read it here.

The only thing I was wrong about with Parker-Spitzer is that I did not think CNN would launch Morgan's show with this ratings wreck as its lead-in. But I'm not sure keeping Parker-Spitzer on at this point is as much a strategy as it is a management that can't get either party to quit and doesn't have any good ideas on how how to bury its mess.

But let's not speak ill of the dead. Moving on to cable TV's new king of Hollywood Phony, Piers Morgan.

I will hold off on making a formal call until I have seen him do a real, live interview off a big breaking news story with nothing but his brains, nerve and any journalistic instincts he might have guiding him.  I am hoping to see that some night, and if he is good, I will sing his praises.

But given the moves CNN has been making the last four months, maybe the channel is out of the breaking news business, and Morgan is not going to be used that way. Maybe he is going to spend his time at CNN interviewing the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Rod Stewart and Howard Stern -- because that is just what this celebrity-saturated, Hollywood-hyped culture of ours needs more of, isn't it?

What we had with Orpah Winfrey in Monday night's premiere was as much a shameless show-biz, back-scratching exercise as I have seen, well, since the last installment of Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood. That's the league this so-called interview belonged in.

CNN has been breaking the bank to promote this great "get" of Oprah for opening night. Please. Oprah is no kind of "get" for anybody right now. She has been everywhere for the last month promoting her OWN network. My God, she was even on "The Early Show" on CBS doing an interview.

Morgan set the unctuous meter soaring right off the bat with, "When you wake up in the morning and say, 'Bloody hell, I'm Oprah Winfrey...."

"Well, I don't say bloody hell...." she replied with a friendly chuckle. And Winfrey was off and running with OWN and how she has a "surreal" moment and "started to cry" thinking about the "journey" that brought her to this network. My watch could be wrong, but I clocked 21 seconds before she made the first mention of OWN and the hype hit overdrive with talk of "redemption."

By the way, and call me picky, but while both Morgan and Winfrey kept calling OWN a network, it isn't, despite the title. It's a cable channel. A network is what CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC have -- a broadcaster who has a collection of stations (usually more than 200) bound to it to carry its programming by contract. OWN does not have 200 stations around the country. It's a cable channel like CNN, Spike, the Food Network, TLC or Playboy. The difference is kind of huge.

But the show-biz footsie Morgan and Winfrey were playing really was too much.

"You are the American queen," Morgan told Winfrey, saying he considers her and the Queen of England in a realm unto themselves.

"Everything you touch is a hit -- will you please touch me?" he begged at another point.

Cloying and needy barely start to scratch the surface of Morgan's interview style Monday night.

In return for all of Morgan's pathetic fawning, CNN got those sound bites of Winfrey saying to him, "Oooh, you're good." And CNN has been running them so relentlessly, I felt like I had already seen this canned interview 50 times before it actually aired Monday night.

But enough of Morgan. What he is to the smarmy show biz interview, so is Sean Hannity to the political kiss-up conversation. I have written before about how obsequious Hannity gets with Palin, and all but genuflects before her image, which was beamed into the Fox News Manhattan studios from Alaska where Fox News built a studio for her.

Hannity doesn't really do interviews with her. He plays defense attorney asking about "criticisms" made of her, and then setting her up with graphics and loaded questions so she can attempt to refute the charges made by hateful "left-leaning" people against her. He questions nothing, no matter how contradictory or screwy her answers might be.

Here is her answer when he asked her about allegations that she took down the image of crosshairs targeting the district of U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords after the congresswoman was shot. The image was on the website of her PAC.

"You know, I believe that someone in the PAC -- in fact, the contract graphic artist -- did take it down," she began.

My God, I thought, almost a straight answer from Palin, even if she was distancing herself with the "contract graphic artist" language. But silly me, she was only beginning.

"And I have no problem with it being taken down," she continued. "I don't think it was inappropriate [that it was taken down] if it was going to cause much heartburn or even more controversy.... Knowing that it had nothing to do with an apolitical or perhaps even left-leaning criminal killing these innocents....I didn't have a problem with it being taken down, if in fact it has been taken down."

First of all, too much pastrami causes heartburn; the imagery of assassination is linked to far darker consequences, Governor. There was a time after the assassination of President Kennedy when Hollywood self-censored any images of crosshairs for that very reason. But you would have to know something about history to know that.

Now a responsible interviewer might have asked her about the seeming contradiction between "someone did take it down" and "if in fact it has been taken down." He might also point out that folks are not interested in whether she had a "problem" with it being taken, they want to know why she or members of her team DID take it down. Was it because they were ashamed of it after the shooting -- because they knew there was something provocative and dangerous about it?

Instead, Hannity showed an old bulls-eye map that the Democrats once had up and then offered a statement about how Bill Clinton had a "war room" and how "war analogy is very common in politics." All of it was preamble to asking, "So, why do you think the left singled you out, Governor?"

Again, this isn't journalistic interviewing, it is what a defense attorney would do while questioning his client in an effort to refute charges against her.

I am not going to deal with what she said about "blood libel." I wrote a book published by Brandeis University Press dealing with Jewish imagery and depictions of Jewish identity on television, and I really do think my head will explode right now if I think too hard about someone like Palin recklessly using language that is so steeped in conflict, pained history and culture. But again, she would have to know something about history to know that.

From the show-biz hustle of Morgan and Winfrey to the ideological tango of Hannity to Palin, this is what now passes for cultural and political discourse in our nation. Do you wonder why we are in the kind of pain and trouble we are in?

I'm also old enough to remember all the stories I wrote in the 1980s about the great promise of cable for democracy and a more enlightened electorate.

It's enough to almost give me heartburn, Governor.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

TV news has mostly been defined by downward trends the past decade. Shrinking audience. Aging audience. Fragmented audience.

But there's been one very bright spot amid the economic and ratings gloom for stations in Baltimore and across the country — the morning news. Mirroring the success of network shows like "The Today Show," and "Good Morning America," local morning news programs are steadily expanding airtime, staff and revenue.

Now, some local morning news shows are bringing in more money than the late newscasts — once the cash cows for stations. And whereas morning on-air teams were once thought of as the third-string behind late and early evening anchor teams, morning hosts and anchors who prove they can attract an audience are among TV's hottest properties.

"Years ago, when we introduced a 5 a.m. news, people couldn't believe it," says Jordan Wertlieb, general manager of WBAL (Channel 11), Baltimore's NBC affiliate and top-rated morning station. "But people are looking for news as soon as they can get it. I still think it is unfair to say morning news is more important than late news, but I do think it's fair to say it's now as important."

And mornings are only going to become more important, says Bob Papper, who studies local TV news for Hofstra University.

"There is absolutely going to be more growth in local morning news," Papper says. "Even when we had a contraction of staff, stations were still expanding morning news — and that's definitely going to continue this year as the economy improves."

(Photo of WBFF's Patrice Harris by Sun photographer Kim Hairston)

This month, WBFF (Channel 45) will expand its morning newscast to 10 a.m. — giving it a block of five hours of locally produced news starting at 5 a.m. each weekday. Only a few years ago, Baltimore's Fox affiliate was running infomercials in the morning.

Buoyed by the success of WBFF's morning news, anchored by Patrice Harris, the overall TV audience from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. weekdays in Baltimore has grown since 2001 by 41 percent in the most important demographic — viewers 18 to 49 years old.

But WBFF is hardly the only station making Baltimore mornings newsier.

Management at WMAR (Channel 2), which added its own 9 a.m. hour of local news in 2008, says it is "having discussions" about expanding in the other direction in the New Year and starting its morning news at 4:30 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. as its three competitors now do at WBFF, WBAL and WJZ.

"It would not be hard for us to go at 4:30 because we have so many people in [the newsroom] already [at that hour]," says Bill Hooper, general manager of the fourth-place station in morning news. "I honestly think all of us [station managers in Baltimore] are kind of staring at each other, waiting for one person to pull the trigger, and then everyone will scramble once that happens."

The 4:30 start is being embraced by stations coast to coast, Papper says: "You could say 2010 has been the year of the 4:30 newscast," he says. "We came into 2010 with maybe 16 stations running news at 4:30 in the morning, and now we have dozens and dozens and dozens."

Not all change is a matter of pure growth, of course. Some involves simply redeploying resources. When WMAR decided to add an hour of news at 9 a.m. in 2008, it found the manpower and money to do so by canceling its noon newscast. Hooper says the change was made to be more in sync with the on-demand, wake-up-and-turn-on-the-computer sensibility of young viewers.

While there appears to be less morning change in the works for WBAL and WJZ, there is a reason for that. The two perennial news rivals were the first to stake their claims to expanded mornings, and they are now the ratings leaders, with WBAL's morning team anchored by Stan Stovall and Mindy Basara in first place from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

"In recent years, management as well as traditional news talent have been added to that show," WBAL news director Michelle Butt says, cataloging a long list of jobs and personnel added since she arrived at the station in 2003.

"The philosophy of the newscast changed as well. We are no longer, 'Here's what happened while you were asleep,' or, 'In case you missed it.' This newscast is about what you need to get through the day. As the workday and commutes get longer, viewers need a roadmap to the day. That's what a.m. news is. In the 'old days' — the '90s — the a.m. news was a history lesson. Now, it's more of a 'futurecast.'"

WJZ General Manager Jay Newman says his station has responded in the same way to changing times.

"Viewers' lifestyles have changed dramatically in the last decade, and they now have an increasing need and desire to know the news, traffic and weather when they get up in the morning," Newman says. "And that's why we've responded the last decade by increasing not only the amount of news, but the number of reporters and producers in the field and the newsroom in the morning."

Beyond the anchor team of veterans Don Scott and Marty Bass, WJZ morning regulars include Ron Matz and Andrea Fujii reporting and Sharon Gibala with traffic.

All the stations have amped up well beyond the old days of a morning show host and a producer or two. WBAL's morning team includes Sandra Shaw and Tony Pann on weather, with Sarah Caldwell on traffic and Keith Mills on sports. WMAR's crew includes Justin Birk on weather, while WBFF anchorwoman Harris is joined by Candace Dold (traffic and entertainment), Steve Fertig (weather), Joel D. Smith (reporter) and Megan Gilliland (reporter/anchor).

WJZ, which starts the day in first place, runs mostly neck-and-neck with WBAL during the 5 o'clock hour. From 6 a.m.to 7 a.m., it's a strong second. But the station loses viewers at 7 a.m. when the CBS-owned station begins to air the network's low-rated "The Early Show" until 9 a.m.

This fall, WBFF surged ahead of WJZ in the 7 a.m. hour — and it did so with all local programming, which means station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group gets to keep all the advertising revenue without any network split for the two hours until 9 a.m.

Papper says that kind of downward pull from "The Early Show" is not peculiar to Baltimore.

"'The Early Show' is a huge problem for the CBS stations," Papper says. "'The Early Show' has not had an audience in decades, and it really drags down even good local morning shows."

"We are always looking for ways to improve and be more competitive in a very competitive landscape, and we are excited about the future with our new ["Early Show"] team," CBS News spokesman Jeff Ballabon said in an e-mail to The Baltimore Sun.

While WBAL and WJZ were the first to expand into mornings, no one has embraced it like Bill Fanshawe, general manager of WBFF and WNUV in Baltimore, who has steadily expanded WBFF's news offerings since taking over the station in 2001. WBFF has all-local news all five hours with no national programming.

"One of the reasons we have targeted the mornings and continue to expand is that it has been a healthy 'daypart' in terms of growth," Fanshawe says. "People want to watch the morning news. Years ago, people would wake up in the morning, just hit the radio and get their news that way. Now I think people wake up in the morning and turn on the TV."

And then, their computers. One thing that morning shows at all the stations seem focused on is talking to young viewers on multiple screens.

"We're not a sleepy show," Kate Ansari, executive producer of Fox 45's morning news, said one day recently, standing in the station's main control room at 8:20 a.m. watching a bank of screens that featured Dold and Harris live in the studio next door. The two were tracking celebrity Tweets and rolling their eyes at news of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner marrying a woman 60 years younger than him.

From police and government news, to "Tinseltown on Twitter," when you have five hours, you can do all kinds of news, Papper says. And he thinks that can be a good thing — not just for stations making more money, but viewers getting more information about the communities in which they live.

"What's happening in local morning TV reminds me of what happened with magazine shows like 'PM Magazine' in an earlier era," he says. "Some of what appeared on those local TV magazine-style shows wasn't exactly the heaviest news. But the program also exposed a lot of local organizations to a lot of viewers and put a lot of important issues on the local agenda. Morning news serves that same function today — and there's more on the way."

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

As if it wasn't painful enough to see the Ravens end their season by giving a game away to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore TV fans had to listen to Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf announcing our humiliation.

Let's start here: What did you think of the interview the two did with victorious Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger after the game?

On bended knee barely starts to describe how worshipful they were as they asked him how he "feels" physically and how great was it that he completed a key third down pass in the second half against a Ravens defense that featured eight men back in coverage. (For the record, he said he was feeling no pain, and he was just happy the young receiver looked up at the right time to catch the ball.)

The tone of the two intrepid interviewers: "You were so great today, Moses, but tell us what were you thinking when you actually got the waters to part?"

And what did you think of Dierdorf's remarks at the end of the game, when he began by saying, "There is no way to sugarcoat it: This has just been disastrous half of football by Baltimore -- just a complete self-destruction."

There was a pause (as if a producer or Gumbel might have made a suggestion to Mr. Blowhard) before he amended his analysis to include: "Aided by a really good performance by the Steelers."

The same thing happened after the Ravens third touchdown. Dierdorf described it as "relatively easy TD," whatever that means.

I wrote a note to myself: "Maybe it was a great call by the Ravens, no?

After we returned to the game from the post-TD commercial, Dierdorf apparently came to the conclusion that it wasn't such a gift, saying, "Cam Cameron, he designed a beautiful passing play to get Todd Heap open."

I am not going to harp on Dierdorf telling viewers that Roethlesberger was trying to speed up the game -- just moments before the Steelers got a delay of game penalty.

And angry as I am about the whole telecast, in fairness, I can't slam Gumbel too hard. He is a better than average network play-by-play guy. Because Dierdorf is such a gasbag, Gumbel has to be the one in the booth noting trends and patterns and constantly reminding Dierdorf of facts he forgot.

In the first half after Pittsbugh had no more challenges left and there was a fumble that the Ravens recovered, Dierdorf said, "I'm sure Mike Tomlin (Steelers coach) wants a good look at this."

Again there was a pause before the high-priced guys in the booth remembered what they said a few minutes ago about the Steelers being out of challenges.

On the other hand, early in the game Gumbel told viewers: "That is seven straight passing plays for the Ravens."

A few moments later, after another pass, he said, "After six straight passing plays.... " I guess he was counting backward.

One of the worst failings of this team was its inability or unwillingness to try and deconstruct the Ravens problems in the second half.

We had to wait for the post-game show and Shannon Sharpe before someone clearly pointed the finger at Joe Flacco.

"They call him Joe Cool," Sharpe said, "but not in the second half."

Sharpe explained how Flacco seemed to have lost his composure.

He was being nice, but at least he was saying what everyone saw. Boomer Esiason also pointed at Flacco's poor play in the second half.

In fairness, there were two huge drops by Ravens receivers in the second half. If either catch had been made -- and Flacco certainly made in-the-numbers throws on both -- we might have had a much happier ending.

I have to say after 17 weeks of TV football, I am dismayed by how awful the state of pro football announcing is outside of the Sunday Night team at NBC and Fox's first string of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. If this is the best CBS Sports can give us on a game of this magnitude, there is something wrong with CBS Sports.

I can't tell you how dismayed I was during a conference call this week with the CBS Sports NFL announcers by the level of locker room kissing up that took place between the press and former players like Dierdorf and coaches like Bill Cowher. Honestly, it was like being back in the locker room, and that's one reason TV sports fans are going to be stuck with blowhards like Dierdorf until they and the people who write about TV sportscasting demand better.

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (108)
        

Hearst Television Friday announced that Dan Joerres, general sales manager of WXII-TV, a Hearst NBC affiliate broadcasting to the Winston-Salem/Greensboro, N.C., TV market, has been named president and general manager of WBAL-TV.

Joerres, 36, succeeds Jordan Wertlieb, who led WBAL-TV since 2005 and has been promoted to  executive vice president of Hearst Television based at the company’s New York City headquarters.

Joerres’ promotion was announced Friday at the station by David J. Barrett, president and CEO of Hearst Television. WBAL is also an NBC affiliate.

In a telephone interview with the Sun after the announcement, Barrett said the transition at WBAL should take place by about Feb. 1, with both Joerres and Wertlieb moving their families.

"There are family matters these guys are going to want to attend to, and we're going to be sensitive to that," Barrett said.

Joerres has been general sales manager at WXII-TV since joining the station in 2008.  Before WXII-TV, he served for 10 years at WISN-TV, the Hearst ABC affiliate in Milwaukee, initially as an account executive before being a succession of promotions to new business sales manager, national sales manager and ultimately local sales manager. The Milwaulee is also a strong and long-time Hearst affiliate like WBAL.

"As a Milwaukee native, I think there are a lot of similarities between Milwaukee and Baltimore," Joerres said in a telephone interview after the announcement. "So from a city standpoint and living standpoint, it feels like I'm at home and there's a lot of normalcy immediately -- and I've only been here 24 hours."

As a native of Milwaukee myself, a a resident of Baltimore for 21 years, I believe he is right about the similarities between the two cities.

"Dan is a talented television executive, well prepared to step into this important role at WBAL-TV,” Barrett said in a statement announcing the move. 

“He has been a standout performer at our stations in Winston-Salem (WXII-TV) and Milwaukee (WISN-TV), demonstrating excellent leadership and business skills, and a keen insight into what it takes for local TV stations to succeed in a highly competitive media environment," Barrett added.

"He intuitively understands the imperative of local news leadership and civic engagement, as well as the priority to provide our customers with innovative marketing solutions on-air, on-line and on-the-move.  I'm confident that Dan will provide outstanding leadership at WBAL, and work very effectively with the station's highly talented, successful team to help make Baltimore's best TV station even better in the years ahead."

Joerres holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota.

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

President and General Manager Jordan Wertlieb is leaving WBAL-TV after 11 years at the station, Hearst Television, the owners of the Baltimore station, announced Thursday.

He has been named an executive vice president of Hearst, and will be working out of the company's New York headquarters. His duties will include management oversight of the company's 29 TV stations across the country.

No successor has yet been announced, but that's expected to happen Friday. A station meeting is planned with executives from Hearst.

"Jordan has been an outstanding executive for Hearst Television in a variety of assignments over the past 17 years,” David J. Barrett, president and CEO of Hearst, said in a statement announcing the move. 

“Most recently, as President and General Manager of WBAL-TV, he has guided the station to enviable success in news, citizenship, sales and profitability, and reputation.  He has great passion, energy and enthusiasm for our company and our industry, and his business acumen and smart strategic insights – applied more broadly across our company – will help us address future challenges and the exciting next generation opportunities for our company and our industry."

Wertlieb joined WBAL in 1999 as general sales manager, and he was promoted to president and general manager in 2005.

During his tenure, WBAL has consistently finished at or near the top of the market in ratings and advertising. One of Wertlieb's most impressive contributions to Baltimore is that during a period of harsh cost cuts throughout the news industry, he has kept WBAL-TV's news operation strong.

WBAL's newsroom has as many or more resources than any station in Baltimore, and it shows.

Under Wertlieb's leadership, the station has won two Edward R. Murrow Awards and six National Headliner Awards.

"Leaving Baltimore is the hardest part," Wertlieb said in a telephone interview shortly after the announcement was made at the station. "My kids have been raised here. We've been here longer than any other place we've lived as a family. So, that's the hardest part."

But, he said, "This is a terrific opportunity, and I'll still have a relationship with WBAL -- just in a different capacity. I'm excited about it."

Wertlieb said he wasn't sure when he will actually be handing over control to a successor, but he thought that might "be determined within the next 48 hours."

"I'm unbelievably proud of the work WBAL does," Wertlieb said. "I think we balance a terrific news product with community service and special projects that are unique to Baltimore, and I know the folks here will carry that on."

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

I was lost in the writing of a magazine story Tuesday when I found out about HBO's Julia Louis-Dreyfus pilot "VEEP" coming to Baltimore. Because I knew I had it first, I wrote it hard and fast as straight news -- with emphasis on what the pilot could mean for local production in Maryland. And then I rushed back to he magazine deadline I am stilll chasing. You can read it here.

Indicative of the kind of day it has been, it is now 12:50 a.m. Wednesday, and I am first getting the chance to add a bit of background to the news.

Everyone knows what a terrific comedic actress Louis-Dreyfus is and can imagine on their own how good she might be a in a political satire featuring a woman vice president of the United States.

But what folks might not know is how smart and wickedly funny Armando Iannucci, the director and co-writer of the pilot, can be. For that, I recommend a viewing of "In the Loop," a screamingly smart and savvy satire of British politics and US-UK relations. The 2009 film stars Gina McKee, Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi and James Gandolfini.

If you love politics, especially the cynical and calculating inside baseball aspects of politics, you will think you have died and gone to heaven watching this film. It is darker than your darkest suspicions about political operatives.  Iannucci directed and wrote it -- and that makes him one of my all-time heroes. Just thinking about the film redeems this wretched day of 17 hours at the computer in an instant.

And yes, the Frank Rich listed as one of the executive producers is the columnist from the New York Times.

This could indeed turn out to be a special series, and while the pilot alone will provide some much needed production jobs in Baltimore, wouldn't it be great if "VEEP" went to series and wound up being filmed here?

I can't wait to see what Iannuci does with American politics, the vice presidency and the many talents of Louis-Dreyfus.

Please stop back and let readers here know what you thought of "In the Loop" after you've seen it. If you already have seen it, please comment away.

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Barry Levinson Tuesday earned a prestigious nomination from the Directors Guild of America for his HBO movie "You Don't Know Jack," about the life of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

Here's the nomination from the DGA:

BARRY LEVINSON
You Don't Know Jack
(HBO)

Mr. Levinson's Directorial Team:

Unit Production Manager: Scott Ferguson
First Assistant Director: Timothy Bird
Second Assistant Director: Deanna Leslie Kelly
Second Second Assistant Director: Matthew Mason

 This is Mr. Levinson's fifth DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature film in 1988 for Rain Man, and was previously nominated in that category in 1990 for Avalon and in 1991 for Bugsy. He was also nominated in the Dramatic Series category in 1993 for his Homicide: Life on the Street episode "Gone for Goode."

Levinson is entered in the category of TV movies and mini-series. Other nominees are from two other HBO productions, "The Pacific" and "Temple Grandin."

Al Pacino starred in the Levinson film.

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A new HBO pilot starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus will be produced in Baltimore, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Tuesday.

Filming will start in late February on a comedy titled "VEEP" about a former senator (Louis-Dreyfus) "who finds being vice president of the United States is nothing like she expected and everything everyone ever warned her about," according to a release from Maryland's Department of Business & Economic Development.

Baltimore will be standing in for Washington in the production.

Louis-Dreyfus, whose credits include Seinfeld and New Adventures of Old Christine, is also producing. The pilot will be directed by Armando Iannucci. He and Simon Blackwell wrote the script, and he, Chris Godsick and Frank Rich are executive producers. Iannucci previously wrote and directed In the Loop, a 2009 political satire, and The Thick of It, a British TV series.

The Maryland Film Office estimates that production of the pilot could have an economic impact in excess of $6 million and could create more than 700 jobs for Maryland crew and actors while "prepping and filming" in the state.

“Maryland has had a long and successful relationship with HBO,” Gov. O'Malley said in a statement making the announcement. “We are pleased to welcome HBO back to our state for another first-class filming experience.”

Jack Gerbes, director of the Maryland Film Office, said Tuesday that it is "premature" to talk about whether or not "VEEP" will be filmed in Baltimore if HBO takes the pilot to series.

"Right now, we're concentrating on making sure the production team and HBO have another great experience while shooting the pilot here," Gerbes said as he was running out to meet with members of the production team who were in town to look at locations for filming.

Previous HBO productions that were filmed in Maryland include Shot in the Heart, Something the Lord Made, The Corner and The Wire.

Maryland’s Film Production Rebate Fund helped to secure the HBO production, according the release from the state. The fund offers a partial rebate for local production expenditures and encourages producers to use local film crews.

Film and TV production in Maryland became as issue during the recent governor's election when GOP challenger Bob Ehrlich charged that Maryland was losing jobs in the entertainment industry because O'Malley's administration was not offering enough in the way of incentives to attract producers to the state. O'Malley said during the campaign that the state was committing as much money as it could in harsh economic times to such incentives.

Read some of my reporting on the issue here. 

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

Watching NBC's coverage of two terrific Wild Card games Saturday, I was deeply impressed by the way the network raised its coverage game to match the on-field intensity of the playoffs.

Not so with CBS Sports and its coverage of the Baltimore Ravens blowout win over the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday.

The pre-game show was so flat I switched to the NFL Network, and its warmup show was fantastic, particularly the performance of Warren Sapp. It was high energy, fun and absolutely on the money in terms of focusing my attention as a viewer on something to watch for in the game: the psychological intimidation factor of Ray Lewis on the young Chiefs offense.

The NFL Network's pre-game show featured Lewis in its "Sound FX" segment with the 15-year veteran screaming at some of his opponents that "this is a man's game," and they should "get off the field" because they are not "man enough" to be on the same field with the Ravens.

That kind of intimidation clearly took its toll on the Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel, but that is exactly the story line that CBS announcers Phil Simms and Jim Nantz never articulated Sunday. They never focused on how poorly Cassel played and how literally frightened he seemed of the Ravens ferocious defense. Cassel clearly had Lewis in his ear -- and in his head -- by the end of the first quarter. And that was the ballgame as far as the Chiefs wretched offensive performance after the home team's first and only touchdown.

Simms, Nantz and CBS Sports, in general, never call anyone out on the field during the games. But in avoiding the negative that way, they give lie to what viewers are seeing with their own eyes. If you are going to provide analysis, don't pull punches. Give honest analysis. I am old enough to have reviewed the work of Howard Cosell on ABC's old "Monday Night Football," and say what you will about him, he did tell it "like it is" most of the time, and in so doing brought an integrity to the booth missing in the work of Nantz amd Simms.

I wasn't going to go off on the duo this way. And I have said nice things about them in the past. But in the third quarter after throwing an interception in his own territory, Cassel walked off the field looking like a scared college kid.

The folks in the CBS truck clearly knew what was going on, because they went to a couple of shots of him on the sideline with his helmet off looking alternately bewildered or about to cry. But I heard Simms and Nantz say nothing about the way the Ravens defense took Cassel psychologically out of the game.

Can I say something good about Sunday's coverage? Yes, the cameras work for most of the game was terrific.

I loved the shot viewers were given of the first fumble by Joe Flacco when he mishandled a snap in the first quarter. The close-up showed his fingers closing as the center lifted the ball into them. You could not get closer to the action than that.

And I adored the overhead replay shot of the first quarter goal line stand by Kansas City. The overhead absolutely showed where the line buckled and how the stop was made. 

On the other hand, there was a play in the second half involving Michael Oher sustaining a block for a long time as Flacco scrambled. The Chiefs wanted a holding call, but Simms said it was simply a great bit of blocking by Oher. The producers did give us a replay, but Oher was out of the camera's range for most of it, and we could never tell if it was a hold or a great bit of tenacity on the part of Oher.

Probably the best moment of coverage came at the end of the entire production when the CBS cameras took us into the Ravens locker room after the game. Viewers got to share some of the emotion involved in the awarding of the game ball to Ed Reed and Reed's family. The All-Pro safety's brother went missing Friday.

Taking us inside that locker room to witness that moment almost made up for what was missing during the game in terms of analysis by Simms in the booth. But being there was mainly a matter of access, not enterprise, imagination or initiative. And CBS could have used more of all three during the game.

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)
        

WBAL Radio Friday confirmed that Kendel Ehrlich is leaving the station, and will be replaced Saturday mornings on air by Clarence Mitchell IV starting tomorrow.

Both general manager Ed Kiernan and news director Mark Miller characterized the move as something Ehrlich had been considering at least since the election in November that saw her husband, Bob, defeated by Martin O'Malley in the governor's race.

Miller and Kiernan said Ehrlich was making the move in an effort to spend more time at Saturday sports events involving her family.

Ehrlich, who also regularly appeared on a weekly roundtable show Friday afternoons on the station, will no longer be part of that group either for the immediate future, Miller said. He added, however, that she had an invitation to be one of several guests who will be involved in the roundtable as the station works to expand the cast of participants and re-brand it as a "stand-alone show." If she does appear on that show, it would not be until February, according to Miller.

When asked if Ehrlich quitting her Saturday morning show had anything to do with WBAL newsroom staffers pressing Bob Ehrlich for comment on the election day robocalls made by a consultant working for his campaign, Miller said, "No, not at all."

Bob Ehrlich had been on his wife's show at least twice since the election, and each time he declined to answer questions from WBAL Radio about the robocalls.

On Dec. 10, WBAL-TV investigative reporter Jayne Miller tried to question Bob Ehrlich when he came to the station to pick her up after a Friday-afternoon appearance, and he and his wife stormed out of the building. You can read about it here.

Kendel Ehrlich hosted the Saturday show only once after that.

In offering what he described as a "little perspective," Miller said discussions about the future of Saturday mornings at WBAL "pre-dated the election."

Until July when Bob Ehrlich became a formal candidate for governor, he and his wife co-hosted the show, a situation of some controversy given the fact that he was raising money and clearly running against O'Malley before it became a formality. Democrats saw the show as a "two-hour campaign commercial" for Ehrlich, and, as I have written several times, it was a relentlessly partisan show that hit the same anti-O'Malley themes repeatedly.

Essentially, what's being said by WBAL management is that Kendel Ehrlich is quitting her show to spend more time with her family. Of course, I cannot say whether that is true or not. But, let's be frank, that has become a somewhat generic and cliched explanation in recent years -- often masking deeper issues.

I also wonder how long-time listeners will feel about Kendel Ehrlich leaving the Saturday morning airwaves in this abrupt way without taking a show to say goodbye to those who invested their time and spent their Saturday mornings with her in recent years.

Mitchell's show will air from  7 to 11 a.m. Saturdays. It will be live -- not a replay of a weekday show.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (31)
        

Ellen Weiss, the National Public Radio executive who fired Juan Williams for remarks he made on Fox News about his feelings toward some Muslims, resigned Thursday following an internal investigation of the way Williams' dismissal was handled.

Vivian Schiller, the CEO and president of NPR, was also cited by the investigating panel for her handling of the matter. As a result, Schiller will not receive a bonus for 2010.

Here is Williams' reaction Thursday to news of the resignation, with him calling Weiss "the keeper of the flame of liberal orthodoxy at NPR."

I did an extended sitdown interview with Williams a few nights after the firing. You can read that here.

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

ESPN Wednesday confirmed plans for TV and online coverage of American Le Mans auto racing in Baltimore over the Labor Day weekend.

The three-day racing festival will take place in the streets surrounding the Inner Harbor.

Here's the schedule of coverage:

Sept. 2, ESPN3.com will cover live qualifying.

On Sept. 3, ESPN3.com will offer live race coverage.

And on Sept. 11, ABC-TV will offer a condensed package of the event.

Coverage for the Grand Prix event Sept. 4 in Baltimore has not yet been decided.

Clarification: The original headline suggested that all coverage was Grand Prix.

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

The last season of Duff Goldman's "Ace of Cakes" starts Thursday at 10 p.m. on the Food Network, and here's a sneak peek at the first fabulous cake featured.

For non-tennis fans, it is Arthur Ashe Stadium, home of the U.S. Open, and once again, it is amazing right down to the side courts. Click ahead for another image showing the cake interfaced with the actual stadium.

"We knew going into it that this would be last season, and so we decided to really have some fun," Goldman said Tuesday in a phone interview.

"Ace of Cakes" has always been lots of fun -- no doubt about that.

Here's another shot that gives a better idea of how incredible this cake is. Note the stadium lights. Unbelievable. What Duff is shown working on in the first image is only the bowl of the stadium. Here is a more elaborate description of the cake from the publicists representing the United States Tennis Association:

Food Network’s Ace of Cakes starring Duff Goldman kicks off its 10th and final season with quite a racket on January 6th at 10pm ET as Chef Duff adds a little topspin to his game when he’s invited to present a cake at the U.S. Open Grand Slam Tennis Tournament in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

 From New York City’s classic attractions and landmarks to its famous rivalries, Chef Duff has brought a little of each to his cake and to the US Open. With Arthur Ashe Stadium as the design’s centerpiece set against the city’s famous skyline, Ashe is featured on center court against the tennis center’s namesake, Billie Jean King.  As Ashe and King play, King Kong climbs the Empire State Building behind them and in front, the Unisphere welcomes fans to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.  The enormous cake, with working stadium lights and fireworks, includes intense rivalries on 12 outer tennis courts.

On these 12 outer courts, Chef Duff showcases New York’s most famous icons: a Yankees player and Mets player square off to see who is the city’s top baseball team; the Statue of Liberty takes on the Statue of 30 Rockefeller Plaza on another court to determine New York’s top landmark; the subway and a yellow taxi battle for transportation bragging rights on another while a pizza slice and a bagel fight to be the top delicacy. The Phantom of the Opera and Cats also take to the court to settle which is the city’s best musical.  A group of children also enjoy a QuickStart Tennis court as an homage to the USTA’s 10 and Under Tennis initiative which is designed to tailor the game of tennis to their size.

 

 

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Katie Couric will have three new members of Congress on CBS Wednesday night. Diane Sawyer will have 10 on ABC. Thursday night, Brian Williams will have an interview with John Boehner, the new Speaker of the House, on his top-rated NBC newscast.

Meanwhile, Neil Cavuto will be cablecasting live from Capitol Hill on Fox Business Network Wednesday night. And Sean Hannity has featured a whole focus group of new members of Congress on his Fox News channel show this week.

Network cable and TV are all over the opening of the 112th Congress with its shift in the House of Representatives from Democratic to Republican control. And I am going to devour every second of coverage that I can. And I am not going to be critical for one second of the reason for all of the coverage: the love we in the press have for stories full of conflict.

To get a sense of what I'm talking about, please check out at least the opening of this video with Hannity's focus group of freshmen members of Congress. And then click ahead to read the rest of my argument.

Let's be honest, that's why we are all over this story: conflict. There is the potential for conflict between new arrivals steeped in Tea Party politics and old-line GOP members. And more importantly, there is the potential for conflict between conservative members of Congress and President Obama who has had an open field to change American life more dramatically than any president since Lyndon Johnson -- and perhaps even Franklin Roosevelt. There are now enough conservative voices in the House, at least, to make an honorable stand -- if not a difference when the Obama steamroller fires up its engines of massive social change.

Since reading Michael Schudson's "Why Democracies Need an Unlovable Press" and thinking about it the last few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that our love of conflict in the press can be a good thing. We know viewers want to see conflict and so we will pour resources and energy into covering and analyzing it. And now that Congress looks as if it will have some real conflict, we will be there with a shine on our shoes and our "A" game brains engaged. None of the newsroom executives seem to be holding back on manpower this week. All the Big Feet are there.

"Almost all journalists relish conflict," Schudson writes."Almost all media criticism attacks journalists for emphasizing conflict. But conflict, like events, provides a recurrent resource for embarrassing the powerful."

Contrary to what many believe, most of the mainstream press is reluctant to embarrass the powerful. For one thing, we don't want to alienate those who can give us the kind of information that can keep us on Page One. But if the powerful are involved in an event or a pointed display of conflict, all bets are off. If they are embarrassed in that coverage, too bad for them. We were just doing our job.

If President Obama didn't like the coverage he was getting the last two years from Fox News, he better be perfect for the next two years in his dealings with Congress. or, he's really going to hate the kind of scrutiny, coverage and analysis he gets from here on in. On the other hand, the same goes for Boehner and those who arrive full of Tea Party fervor.

I know we are supposed to say how much we want to see harmony and all the disparate parties working together. "Compromise" is the buzzword of the day.

But Schudson says we in the press serve democracy best when we cover the conflict in government with all our best efforts. And that's just what it looks like the networks and cable channels are about to deliver. And I am all for it.

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

I loved the scene with Owen's old-school R & B music playing throughout Thoreau Chevrolet and the salesmen down on the showroom floor dancing. The energy, sense of fun and sheer joy of the moment provided such relief from the complications of middle-aged male life, which permeate so much of the rest of the series.

Life is complicated for these three guys no matter how simple they think they are trying to keep it. Owen's relationship with his father will never be untangled until his father's death, I suspect. And then, I would guess all bets will be off on how Owen handles -- or doesn't handle -- it.

But it is fascinating to watch him try to grow into his new role this season. The speech by Owen to the feuding employees of Thoreau Chevrolet is one of those scenes that reminds you what a superb actor Andre Braugher is.

I have said this before in connection with "Homicide: Life on the Street," but Braugher is the actor as jazz musician. As Miles Davis did with a string of notes, so does Braugher do with just a few words, delivering them with a rhythm, pace and pronunciation no one else would ever imagine. And as you hear them, you cannot imagine them ever being any other way again. That sense of him as an actor adds another layer of meaning to the scene in the diner with Owen's friends kidding him about his "jazz face"

And what about Ray Romano? Of course, everyone knows what a fine comic TV actor he is. But the power of his performance is in the depth, nuance and vulnerability he brings to his role without making a big dramatic deal about it. There is a genuine grace to his work in this show.

That is one of the delights of this series: The way Braugher embraces the comedic moments of the script to undercut the life-and-death gravitas critics like me want to assign to every role he plays, and the deft dramatic edge Romano brings to his character.

I am glad to be back and talking about this series again. But I'd like to hear what you think about Monday's episode and the season so far.

Here's a question I really want answered: What do you think about this trashy woman Joe's sleeping with anyway? Come on, be honest, she is kind of trashy, no?

And what about the action Owen's father takes near the end of the episode -- and the revelation that "there are books, and then there are books"? I'm talking both about the "property" Owen's father bought in Glendale years ago with the payroll taxes he didn't pay and his position on Owen buying a frame straightener for the planned body shop. Some inheritance.

And then, the bill comes, indeed...

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (40)
        

WBAL-TV Monday answered one of the bigger questions of Baltimore media 2011: Who will replace Oprah in Channel 11's afternoon lineup?

The answer is Ellen DeGeneres, according to Jordan Wertlieb, WBAL's general manager.

During her long run in syndication, Oprah Winfrey had determined early evening news ratings at local stations from coast to coast and made billions of dollars for stations carrying her talk show, which ends this May. Her 4 p.m. time slot at station's like WBAL is one of the most important in all of television.

WBAL's new afternoon lineup starting after Labor Day will feature Anderson Cooper's new talk show at 2, followed by Dr. Oz at 3 and Ellen at 4, Wertlieb said. 

"Ellen has shown continued growth in her time period, and she is the natural successor to that coveted 4 o'clock time period," Wertlieb said Monday in a telephone interview.

The changeover will be a big one with the potential to alter news standings in the late afternoon and early evening ratings in Baltimore.

It looks at this point like WBAL has a winning combination lined up.

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Long-time CBS News and recent CNN anchor John Roberts will join Fox News as a national correspondent, the top-rated cable channel announced today.

Michael Clemente, senior vice president of news editorial for Fox, said Roberts will be the channel's senior national correspondent.

“We are excited to welcome John to FOX News — his reputation as a skilled journalist with years of notable experience in the field will be a valuable addition to our news programming,” Clemente said in statement issued Monday.

Roberts had been co-anchor of CNN's American Morning from 2007 until last month when the  struggling cable channel announced a change in its morning team. Roberts had also served as national correspondent at CNN.

Prior to joining CNN in 2006, Roberts worked for 14 years at CBS News, and was considered the heir apparent to replace Dan Rather as lead anchor when Rather retired.

But all such plans blew up in the wake of a report by Rather about George W. Bush's military record that was based on documents neither Rather nor CBS News were able to authenticate when they were challenged. Rather himself was forced into an early retirement from the network, and CBS News has yet to fully recover.

During his time at CBS News, Roberts also served at chief White House correspondent, generally considered the top beat at what was then a very good broadcast news division.

Getting someone who is a strong enough reporter to cover the White House, as well as a skilled enough anchor to do a nightly network newscast, seems like a wise move for Fox News. The channel doesn't need more ratings magnets -- it has all of them any cable channel needs right now. What Fox needs to do is continue to add journalistic strength and depth as it did in October with Juan Williams.

It is going to be hard for Fox critics to label someone with a track record like the one Roberts has compiled in TV news as an ideologue.

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (132)
        

I know we are starting late in season 2, but a number of regulars have asked me to re-start our weekly chats about TNT's "Men of a Certain Age."

So, I'll be posting Monday night at 11 after this week's episode, "And Then the Bill Comes" ends.

Meanwhile, take a look at this preview from TNT, watch Monday night at 10, and stop back here so we can resume the spirited conversation we had during the the first season of this outstanding series.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Last week, I complained bitterly about CBS running an endless string of tedious promotional messages during the Baltimore Ravens game against the Cleveland Browns.

I honestly didn't think it could get worse.

But it did in the network's coverage Sunday of the Ravens' lackluster performance against the Cincinnati Bengals. CBS missed at least two plays because they were running promotional messages for sitcoms and dramas instead of covering the game.

I can complain about play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan and analyst Solomon Wilcots, and that's one thing. But for a network charging the kind of money CBS is for ad time not to deliver on the rock-bottom, hard-core, basic end of its contract, which is to show viewers the game, is outrageous.

And if TV sports fans weren't such passive weenies who will take anything a network gives them and be grateful, they would be howling in protest. Really, there is no discussion and no excuse: You tune into a game, you should be at the very least able to see every play, no? Nothing else is worth discussing when a broadcaster fails in that basic task -- and, worse yet, fails because of greed.

The first missed play came late in the second half as CBS was squeezing in extra promos for "Two and Half Men" and "Mike & Molly."

As we came back from video of Mike in bed with a cold, and his wife and mom ministering to him, Harlan said, "We just had a pass to Derrick Mason...."

We just what? Why was I looking at a whiny fat guy in bed with a thermometer in his mouth? What if it had been a touchdown -- or the play of the game?

Well,  at least, I would have been reminded for the 10,000th time what the lame story line for "Mike & Molly" was this week. ("Two and Half Men," by the way, features the Charlie Sheen character having casual sex with a woman, which upsets his brother. Oh wait, that's been the story line of every episode since the pilot. This is, by the way, what passes for a "family" show these days.)

Ravens viewers were cheated a second time in the fourth quarter, when they came out of a promo for "CSI: Miami" only to be told by Harlan: "The Ravens just punted." Did you know "CSI: Miami" is on a "special night" this week -- as opposed to, what, an ordinary night?

I couldn't believe it happened twice, and that's all the announcer had to say. Each time Harlan downplayed the network transgression -- as if it didn't matter that viewers missed the play.

And this isn't the local station, WJZ, clipping the network that owns it by slamming promos for WJZ shows onto the air during network time. This is CBS doing it.

As annoying as Fox, NBC and NFL Network coverage can be with promos, I have not seen plays missed to this extent on any of those networks this season. I know it happens, but what I saw Sunday strikes me as egregious and intentional.

If you have seen other examples, let me know. It will only get worse if viewers don't complain.

And I have to be honest, I would also like to know why TV football fans are so willing to be treated this way.

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)