CNN

CNN executives announced today that the cable news network is expanding its news-gathering operations in 10 U.S. cities.

From the release:

The new operations will be based in Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Houston; Las Vegas; Minneapolis, Minn.; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Seattle. This expansion will also allow CNN to build stronger partnerships with affiliates in new and existing locations across the country. CNN already has bureaus in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. 

The newly expanded newsgathering operation will be staffed with a mix of traditional general assignment reporters with CNN's current roster of "show-based correspondents," who are attached to many of CNN's daytime and prime-time programs, and newly designated "all-platform journalists.

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Not since a California woman called 911 to complain that Burger King messed up the Western BBQ Burger she ordered her hungry, post-Tae Kwon Do class kids, has such an amusing fast food-related police action hit the Web.

CNN (with the help of WTLV) is reporting that a Jacksonville, Fla. man named Reginald Peterson was arrested after calling the police to complain that a Subway Sandwich maker failed to put mayonnaise and mustard on his Spicy Italian sub.

Sure, it's a sign of a slow news day that CNN is featuring this story prominently on its homepage, but the fact that the network is selling an Onion-esque T-shirt with the headline Man calls 911 to report bad sandwich is a pretty good idea.

Update, 5:30PM: The Smoking Gun (of course) has the mugshot and the 911 audio.

On Wednesday night, CNN premiered its new documentary Black in America: The Black Woman and Family in which correspondent Soledad O'Brien takes a look at "the varied experiences of black women and families and investigates the disturbing statistics of single parenthood, racial disparities between students and the devastating toll of H.I.V./AIDS."

On its first night, the doc put up big numbers for the cable news channel. According to a release from CNN, over 2.1 million viewers tuned in, including 966,000 in the 25-54 demographic.

More from the release:

According to Nielsen Media Research data, CNN’s two-hour premiere of Black in America: The Black Woman & Family was a resounding success, topping Fox News and MSNBC during the 9-11pm time period.  read more »

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“The good TV and the bad TV were often in conflict,” said Aaron Brown.

It was a recent Wednesday afternoon and the longtime television anchor and correspondent was sitting at a table in Harry’s of Hartsdale, a nearly deserted steakhouse, a few short blocks from his home in Westchester County. He was reflecting on his career.

Mr. Brown was dressed casually, in a short-sleeved black cotton polo, a bit of white stubble standing out on his well tanned chin. He leaned back in his chair and, by way of demonstration, tapped his right shoulder and then tapped his left. The angel speaking into one earpiece, the devil whispering into the other.  read more »

Jamie Tarabay, the former Baghdad Bureau Chief for NPR, was stationed in Iraq in the early months of 2007 when General David Petraeus arrived to take over command of the U.S. forces there.

In the weeks and months to come, like many of her professional colleagues in the war zone, she eventually accompanied Mr. Petraeus on a number of walk-along interviews as he strolled through the streets of the occupied city.  read more »

“It’s the oft-stated phrase that truth is the first casualty of war,” said Michael Ware, CNN’s Baghdad correspondent, on the telephone from Iraq. “In this war, as in every other conflict, everybody lies to you. Your government is lying to you. The Iraqi government is lying. The insurgents are lying. The militias are lying. The U.S. military is lying. Even the civilians lie. Or in the best case, there’s confusion and exaggeration. The truth is the most elusive thing in war, particularly in an insurgency.”

Sixty-two months into the war, this is the language of the American journalist in Iraq. It’s not the only language; there are others: Cyclical, monotonous, brutal, strategic, hopeful. But slowly, as Iraq slips from the front pages and Web pages, today’s news starts to sound like yesterday’s; violence explodes; a spectacular military success, or failure. Casualty lists grow until they become incomprehensible, and then unreadable, unquantifiable. Against that metronomic numbness, 90 American journalists (according to a November 2007 study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism) continue to work a dangerous war that becomes a harder and harder story to sell to Americans. As the American press corps gets older, wearier—and simultaneously younger and more untested as the veterans leave—there are truths that some of the reporters of Baghdad have learned about the war in Iraq.  read more »

On Tuesday night, the last night of contests during this marathon primary season, CNN scored a big win over its cable news rivals, according to a story in today's Washington Post.

From the Post:

CNN clocked more than 3.5 million viewers in prime time. That's a 34 percent lead over MSNBC's more than 2.5 million viewers. It's also a 47 percent advantage over Fox News Channel's prime-time crowd of 2.4 million viewers.  read more »

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Jacques Steinberg at The Times poses a question: Did Howie Kurtz do anything wrong when he brought a client of his wife's onto his show? Kurtz's wife, Sheri Annis, did PR work for Kimberly Dozier's memoir, Breathing the Fire, which was the centerpiece of an interview Dozier had with Kurtz on his CNN show, Reliable Sources. Kurtz made a brief disclosure at the end of the show, but even so, is it kosher?  read more »

The Post-American World, by Fareed Zakaria. W. W. Norton, 292 pages, $25.95.

 

 

Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World is one of those peculiar volumes public thinkers of a certain disposition, upon reaching a certain popular standing, seem compelled to write: an omnibus summation of the recent trajectory of their thinking—and, by extension, the state of the world.  read more »

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Jimmy Carter is still on his book tour, and still hinting at support for Barack Obama without saying it directly.

In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer taped for The Situation Room, Carter said that if superdelegates overturn what is nearly certain to be a majority of pledged delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver (the only way Hillary Clinton can win at this point), it would be "uncomfortable." Carter, while admitting to having a favorite, still refuses to say who he voted for in the primary, or who he plans to support at the convention.

Carter is one of the Democratic Party elders, along with Al Gore, who could conceivably play a role in tipping the nominating process towards one candidate by weighing in at some point. In Carter's case, at least, that candidate would probably be Obama. (Carter previously told a Nigerian newspaper, "My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama.")

Here's the transcript of the exchange, sent over by the CNN:  read more »

On Tuesday April, 22, Steve Krakauer of TV Newser was the first to report that CNN's suspender-wearing newsman Larry King had re-upped with the cable news network through June 2011.

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Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary, is joining CNN as a conservative political commentator, starting today.

From the Press Release:

A well-known and respected observer of politics with a longstanding news background, Snow will contribute to CNN as the network continues to broadcast winning political coverage.  read more »

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Amid reports of a possible news-sharing partnership between CBS News and CNN and stories about layoffs at CBS stations around the country, today Matea Gold and Meg James of the L.A. Times write about the state of the local news gathering business.

They begin by noting the layoffs last week of more than 160 employees at CBS-owned stations in 13 cities, including a number of top anchors and seasoned correspondents.  read more »

So now we know what Matt Drudge was talking about: Tim Arango at the Times is reporting that CBS "has been in discussions with Time Warner about a deal to outsource some of its newsgathering operations to CNN," a report sourced to "two executives briefed on the matter."

This is something CNN has talked about with other networks in the past, Mr. Arango points out in the article, but the talks with CBS have been "revived and lately intensified."  read more »

On Tuesday, April 8th, Chez Pazienza will be self publishing his memoir, “Dead Star Twilight,” via his Web site, www.deusexmalcontent.com.

NYTV first wrote about Mr. Pazienza back in late February, following Mr. Pazienza's public dustup with his former employers at CNN.  read more »

The numbers are in for the cable news networks for the first quarter of 2008. The verdict? Thanks in large part to the nation's ravenous interest in the political season, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC all enjoyed a strong first quarter, particularly compared with the seemingly dismal news coming from much of the rest of the industry. Today, employees of the cable news networks were falling all over themselves, trying to out-tout each other's accomplishments. Herein, some of the highlights:  read more »

 

So last night I was cast as "Angry White Male #3" on The Daily Show.

It was during one of the montage segments they do all the time: Jon Stewart introduces the major news story of the day and then shows several clips of hysterical talking heads from various cable news channels all saying the same hysterical things. Then they cut back to a horrified and smugly amused Stewart.  read more »

In the spring of 2001, Chez Pazienza was sitting in his apartment in the West Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, smoking heroin and watching The Filth and the Fury, a documentary about punk legends the Sex Pistols, when he realized he had a problem.

At the time, Mr. Pazienza was an ambitious young producer running the 11 o’clock news for Los Angeles’ NBC affiliate KNBC. Ratings were up. His anchor drove a Ferrari. The job was good—great.

But Mr. Pazienza’s marriage was falling apart. And as he listened to Sid Vicious describing the sensations of heroin withdrawal, Mr. Pazienza finally acknowledged his own raging addiction. “I was like, okay, I’m screwed,” Mr. Pazienza said. Shortly thereafter, he checked into rehab.  read more »

Politico has made it a habit for the last year to pluck away talented writers and editors, but now one of its own is jumping ship. Richard Greene, the web site's main editor, is leaving for CNN. In a memo, Politico editor John Harris described Mr. Greene's departure as a "surprise" and described him as one of the "pivotal figures in the success" of the news outfit's debut year.  read more »

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama got their digs in, but both candidates took pains on Thursday night not to appear hostile or mean-spirited in what was their only one-on-one encounter before Super Tuesday.

Instead, the two surviving Democratic contenders spent close to two hours—the debate at the Kodak Theatre wrapped up a few minutes earlier than planned and included three commercial breaks—aiming most of their attacks at John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, and engaging in lengthy, painstaking and rather dispassionate discussions of policy.

From a civics standpoint, the debate was something approaching a triumph. But in terms of political theater, it didn’t even begin to approach the tension and pique that defined last week’s debate in South Carolina.

Both candidates had good reason to play it this way.
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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Things are about to get underway in the spin room... or, in tonight's case, spin lobby? Very grand accomodations in the lobby of the Palace. Just now volunteers are receiving their signs ("Clinton campaign") that identify who is a spokesbot for which candidate.

Earlier today, Space.com founder and noted (illegal) alien-phobe Lou Dobbs sat down with Constitutional scholar Floyd Abrams in front of an audience of journalists and immigration advocates as part of Columbia Journalism School’s “First Amendment Breakfast Series.”

Viewers of Mr. Dobb’s CNN show, Lou Dobbs Tonight, would not have been surprised by his populist-tinged tirades against the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, Big Media, the National Council of La Raza, and the political leadership of both the Republican and Democratic parties.  read more »

Yet another New Hampshire poll is out tonight, but this one deserves your attention. The CNN/WMUR survey was conducted on Friday and Saturday, providing the most accurate reading yet on how the Iowa results affected New Hampshire voters.

The poll finds Barack Obama leading Hillary Clinton by 10 points, 39 to 29 -- the first time Obama has opened a double-digit lead in the state in a reputable independent poll. On the Republican side, John McCain leads Mitt Romney, 32 to 26 percent.  read more »

CNN likes to say that it's the network people turn to when major world news events occur.  And one reason why there may be some truth to that boast was revealed in the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last week.

CNN was the only American network that had a full-time producer, Mohsin Naqvi, at the site of the rally where Ms. Bhutto was killed Thursday, reports The New York Times.  Mr. Naqvi had spoken to Ms. Bhutto earlier that day, and reported for CNN by phone throughout the day. By contrast, Fox and MSNBC were forced to rely on phone reports from freelance journalists in the country.   read more »

Last night, Dan Rather emerged from the cable news ether to speak at length with CNN's Wolf Blitzer about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the late former prime minister of Pakistan.

Throughout the segment, CNN played clips of Mr. Rather's recent interview with Ms. Bhutto for his show on HDNet (which you can watch above), and Mr. Blitzer peppered the Category 5 Newsman with questions about her qualities as a leader.

"She saw, perhaps better than most, the depth of the feeling of radical Islamic terrorists and she wanted to do something about it," said Mr. Rather. "And that was her vision. That's the reason she went back, knowing that she was in real peril when she went back."  read more »

In recent days, Jonathan Klein signed a four-year contract extension to remain as president of CNN/U.S. Accordingly, Mr. Klein was in a good mood as he addressed staffers during a quarterly Q&A session at the Time Warner Center on the afternoon of Dec. 17.

CNN Worldwide, he told the troops, was enjoying its fourth straight year of double-digit profit growth. “It hasn’t been the greatest news year,” Mr. Klein said. “There haven’t been major news events that have moved the needle. But overall, we’re up pretty significantly, which is nice.”

How significantly, he didn’t say. But according to Nielsen data provided by CNN, through the end of November, the cable network’s total day and prime time audience had increased by 3 percent overall and 5 percent in the crucial 25-54 demographic versus the same stretch last year.  read more »

At 2 pm today, cable news networks face a difficult decision: do you cover George Mitchell's blockbuster news conference on steriod abuse is baseball? Or do you cover the Iowa Democratic debate?  read more »

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Fox News' Chris Wallace unloads to The Politico about the Democratic presidential candidates' refusal to appear on debates moderated by his network:

"Just imagine if the Republicans, under pressure from right-to-life groups, refused to appear on CNN or MSNBC. I think there would be holy unshirted hell. I think there would be such talk about these people being captives of the extreme right wing and why are they afraid to answer questions. And I think the absence of that is very telling.

"At this point, it has become kind of a loyalty test inside the Democratic Party, ... pandering to the far-left-wing. And we live with it."  read more »

In response to this week's news that, according to the National Intelligence Estimate, Iran halted its nuclear-weapons program four years ago, CNN has tabled its forthcoming documentary We Were Warned -- Iran Goes Nuclear.

Variety reports: "The two-hour spec, which was slated for Dec. 12 under the 'CNN Presents' banner, was 'set partially in the future,' featuring a what-if scenario as former government officials -- playing fictional cabinet members -- debate how to deal with the Iranian threat."  read more »

A snarky report in on Page Six of Wednesday's New York Post claimed that CNN publicists were scrambling this week to convince B-list guests to attend the network's first ever "Hero's Tribute," which took place last night at the Museum of Natural History, after first choices like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt did not confirm attendance.

Still: The show—hosted by Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour, and designed to honor some 18 "ordinary people" who, the network says, have helped change our world for the better—must go on! Tyra Banks was on the red carpet, in a Pamela Roland gown and vintage jewelry. "I didn't want to be too trendy," she said. "Anderson's here! I thought I had to look White House-ey!"  read more »

Keith Olbermann has raised his profile and his numbers at MSNBC in part by taking on other cable hosts. And last night, notes TV Newser, he opened another campaign, naming CNN's Lou Dobbs as the"Worst Person in the World" (there's a new one every night, so don't take it literally).

Mr. Dobbs provoked Mr. Olbermann's ire with a tirade of his own, attacking LA Times columnist Tim Rutten on his Monday show, after Mr. Rutten wrote a column that argued that CNN devoted too much of its recent Republican debate to immigration, as a way to help Mr. Dobbs' show, which focuses on the issue.

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According to Matt Drudge, Citizens United has retained legal counsel as part of its ongoing spat with CNN, after a report presented by Campbell Brown referred to the conservative group as a "fringe militia." Says the group:

CU through counsel will seek a formal apology and public retraction of those statements, and for calling Bossie a 'dirty trickster.' If no retraction is forthcoming, CU will then bring legal action to hold CNN accountable for these and other misrepresented facts. These baseless allegations were a disservice to CU and its 500,000 members, CNN and its audience, and to general principles of responsible, fact-based journalism.

Via The Huffington Post: CNN announced yesterday evening that veteran investigative reporter Carl Bernstein will join the network's political team for the 2008 presidential campaign. No word on whether Mr. Bernstein, who recently published the book A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Clinton, will appear with Watergate partner Bob Woodward, another sometime CNN contributor.

Interestingly, in CNN's press release, Mr. Bernstein praises the network for demonstrating "time and again a sincere effort to go beyond the horserace." That seems to be an attribute CNN is stressing lately -- whether or not it's actually, you know, true, is another matter.

CNN's Campbell Brown has responded to conservative group Citizens United, which last week threatened to sue the network after being described in a report, presented by Ms. Brown, as a "fringe militia."

In a statement to the blog Fishbowl DC, Ms. Brown says:

I'm glad that this documentary is generating discussion among those that it portrayed - "the passionate partisans on the left and right" We presented a balanced and entertaining look at how various groups of all political persuasions try to influence the process. I am both thrilled with the documentary and the fact that more than million people tuned in.  read more »

... why does The Washington Post allow Howard Kurtz to write a news story about charges that CNN acted improperly when he hosts a regular segment on the network? Yes, there's a line of disclosure at the bottom, but still -- isn't there anyone else they could have assigned it to?

Via The Huffington Post, Joe Scarborough of MSBNC went after CNN this morning for allowing someone with ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign to pose a question at Wednesday's GOP debate.

"Don't tell me that CNN didn't know" that the questioner -- retired Brigadier General Keith Kerr, who asked about the issue of gays in the military -- was associated with the Clinton campaign.  read more »

CNN has formally apologized to the Republican candidates for allowing a person who's affiliated with the Hillary Clinton campaign to pose a question during last night's debate.

Retired Brigadier General Keith Kerr asked the candidates about their views on the question of gays in the military. But conservative bloggers quickly revealed that Mr. Kerr is listed as a member of the Clinton campaign's steering committee on gay and lesbian issues.

Said David Bohrman, CNN Senior Vice President and the executive producer of the debate, in a statement: "We regret this, and apologize to the Republican candidates. We never would have used the General's question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate."

The network says it verified Mr. Kerr's military background and that he had not contributed any money to any presidential candidate.  read more »

Right after wrapping up the CNN/YouTube Republican debate last night, Anderson Cooper proudly told viewers that CNN's post-game analysis was "not going to focus on the horse race. Instead, tonight, we're looking at the issues."

It was this relentless focus on the issues that produced comments from CNN's panelists like those you'll find after the jump..  read more »

Steve Kornacki takes CNN to task for its performance during last week’s debate in Nevada. It was incompetence, he says, more than bias.

Also from The Observer, Niall Stanage criticizes CNN and others for creating a false choice between human rights and American national security.

Why, given the endless supply of eager political pundits who are unaffiliated with the Clintons and every other campaign, did CNN ever offer such a prominent spot to James Carville and David Gergen?  read more »

Gawker catches New York Times TV reporter Bill Carter in what looks like an embarrassing slip. Mr. Carter reported today that Shepard Smith's new contract with Fox News, which is worth around $7 million a year, will make him better-paid than anyone at rival CNN, "if reports of $5 million for Anderson Cooper and $6 million for Lou Dobbs are accurate." But in 2002, The Times reported that CNN's Larry King was set to sign a contract that would pay him $7 million base salary. And in 1998, Mr. Carter himself reported the same thing.

This post, by the way, was for those of you looking for some hot media on media on media on media action....  read more »

This came out over the weekend but our team of Googling monkeys must somehow have missed it...

Last week, CNN provoked a firestorm of blogospheric outrage when its post-debate analysis featured James Carville, without disclosing that Mr. Carville -- who helped elect Bill Clinton president -- is now actively supporting Hillary.

Now, Jon Klein says his network will do better in the future. "He's not on the Hillary payroll, but he's on the Hillary bandwagon, and that should be disclosed as much as we can," Mr. Klein told The Times. "I wasn’t comfortable with it myself as I watched it."  read more »

In sharp contrast to the Clinton campaign, which is showering Wolf Blitzer with praise this morning for his performance moderating last night’s debate, David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s senior advisor, thinks he failed to ask the hard questions.

“I thought it was odd that the moderator didn’t follow up,” Axelrod said.

Yesterday we noted that, according to The Wall Street Journal, friends of Lou Dobbs say he's "seriously considering" a run for president as an independent. After the jump: Some revealing excerpts from Mr. Dobbs' column for CNN.com this morning:  read more »

LAS VEGAS—Tonight, Hillary Clinton hit back.

After weeks of withering attacks by her Democratic rivals, political missteps by her own campaign and a seeming inability to give a straight answer on the hot-button issue of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, Ms. Clinton took the platform at a debate at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, pointed to her charcoal jacket, and said “This pantsuit—it’s asbestos,” suggesting she was ready to withstand any onslaughts.

And they started right away.  read more »