In this edition: Scott McClellan has “no business” being WH Press Secretary; WaPo’s CIA secret prisons story; a Fox network evening newscast?; 2005 Election Ad buys; meet Iowa’s most influential political columnist David Yepsen; Bob Woodward sounds like his critics from the Watergate days (full coverage of the Woodward revelation); Online newspaper readership up 11% in Oct.; Is Jon Stewart the next Oprah?; Ken Tomlinson broke federal law; CIA leak investigation update; Anderson Cooper is one of People’s sexist men alive (and so is Patrick Fitzgerald); Dems’ call for universal broadband gets lots of trade industry coverage; MoDo says reporters shouldn’t blindly trust sources;

Thoughts, and Then, the News
The 11/22/05 Nightline will be Ted Koppel’s last. I always felt he was one of the few who was trying to get at the truth.  He will be missed. As for another veteran journalist (Bob Woodward), I have some choice words for him.
Now for the news from the past week posted November 21, 2005:

Note: I’m going to put a %%% next to things that are more interesting or go into things more in-depth.

Before you jump on Dems for not fighting the GOP…
Double check to make sure that the media even tried to get the Dem side of the story. The deals made between the GOP and the media, sometimes, means that the Dems don’t get a word in edgewise, even if they hand delivered a statement.

Ted Koppel

The Growing Influence of Mr. Stewart

As fake news anchors go, Jon Stewart has been in a league of his own for years. No one satirizes political bigwigs better than Mr. Stewart and his team of bogus correspondents and commentators on his popular Comedy Central show.

But now Mr. Stewart has moved into even more select company. He’s becoming an opinion shaper–the Oprah of the political world. Publishers vie with each other to get their authors on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” and the satirist is becoming an ever more powerful influence in the media world–particularly with the elusive younger generation.

“He is as important in shaping opinions today as Walter Cronkite was in the ’70s and Huntley and Brinkley were in the ’50s and ’60s.” says Seth Siegel, co-founder of The Beanstalk Group, a branding consulting firm. “There’s no other journalist today, real or fake, who is more significant for people 18 to 25.”

Last year, it seemed, was the year of Jon Stewart, when the former stand-up comic had the No. 1 nonfiction bestseller and his five-year-old program became a breakout hit with its “Indecision 2004” election coverage.

But 2005 has proved to be even better. The Daily Show audience is up 20%, to 1.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

[…]

Mr. Stewart’s influence spread further last month with the debut of “The Colbert Report,” starring former Daily Show regular Stephen Colbert as a faux Fox News personality. The Comedy Central show, produced by Mr. Stewart’s Busboy Productions, has been attracting 1.2 million viewers and has just been renewed.

Mr. Colbert is one of several alumni to use the Daily Show as a springboard. Others include Steve Carell, star of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” and Lewis Black, who has become a hot stand-up act and author of Nothing Sacred, a memoir.

The success of the Daily Show has also done wonders for Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom. Through August, ad revenue for the show, which airs four nights a week and repeats four times the following day, is up 100%, to $41 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

“It’s what cable needs more of–original, appointment-viewing programming,” says Andy Donchin, senior vice president of national broadcast at media buying giant Carat USA. “And we like how young his audience is.”

[…]

“The Daily Show is one of the few places on television where you can get six to seven minutes to describe your book to an audience that reads,” says Mr. Cornfield. “And even if it’s someone he was making fun of the previous night, like Zell Miller or Ari Fleischer, Stewart pulls back. That’s another ingredient of his success.”

Mr. Stewart still has room to grow. He and his writers are planning a follow-up to America (The Book), their pseudo-history textbook, which has sold 1.5 million copies, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70% of sales.

More spinoffs of the Daily Show could also be on the way. Earlier this year, Comedy Central struck a deal with Mr. Stewart’s production company that gives the channel first-look rights for its television projects. Other networks can pursue anything Comedy Central leaves on the table. The channel has also signed Mr. Stewart to the Daily Show through 2008, which means he gets to anchor another presidential election.

Liberals Get Dissed
NBC Universal President Bob Wright AAR and Ed Schultz are growing, and Olbermann (who plays it straight but probably attracts a more liberal audience) does alright on MSNBC. TDS has a strong following. I don’t think cable news has really given more liberal shows a chance.

Carlson suggested the creation of a cable channel that caters to liberals. But “going after a lefty audience would be futile, Wright said. ‘For some strange, probably genetic, reasons’ — we’re pretty sure that was a joke — ‘they don’t listen to a lot of radio and they don’t watch a lot of television.'”

Scotty Gets Dissed
* Ex-WH correspondent says McClellan has “no business there” LOL.

Reporters: Just Trying To Stay Alive
NBCNews workers wake up to suicide bomb attack in Baghdad.

WaPo’s CIA Secret Prisons Story
WaPo isn’t worried about a fight over the story

f The Washington Post is circling the wagons in preparation for a confidential sourcing fight with federal investigators, it certainly isn’t showing it. Both reporter Dana Priest and Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., tell E&P that no plans have been formulated to respond to a possible inquest by either Congress or the Justice Department about a Nov. 2 Priest story on secret overseas prisons.

[…]

Priest’s story, coming on the heels of the Judith Miller subpoena/jailing/resignation mess, drew both criticism and praise for reporting what she described as a “covert prison system” set up by the CIA four years ago. Priest’s use of confidential sources prompted the House Intelligence Committee last week to launch an investigation into who leaked the information, while the CIA asked the Justice Department to review possible sources.

Post media critic Howard Kurtz wrote today, “the controversy could mushroom into another Valerie Plame fracas. If prosecutors get involved, Priest could face the same dilemma that confronted Time’s Matt Cooper and former New York Times reporter Judith Miller: whether to reveal confidential sources under threat of imprisonment.”

There’s a big difference though between Cooper/Miller and Priest. Cooper/Miller were involved (albeit perhaps unwillingly) in the cover up of a leak, whose purpose was to destroy someone politically. Priest sources are whistleblowers.  In other words, Priest’s sources are closer to being Mark Felts, and therefore, her wishes to protect her sources are defensible. In addition, Priest notes that her reporting on this story was pretty much done in the same manner as previous stories detailing the doings over previous administrations. Priest has a far better reputation than Miller.

Bob Woodward, Iraq, Judy Miller, Other Media Folk, and Plamegate

After her remarks, Dowd was asked numerous questions about the controversy surrounding Judith Miller, The New York Times reporter who served jail time for refusing to reveal an anonymous source and recently left the newspaper. The New York Times is currently experiencing “Judy fatigue,” she said, adding that Miller may end up with her own Fox talk show.

Her decision to write a column about Miller’s journalistic shortcomings was difficult because she didn’t want to be perceived as having a “WMD cat fight,” she said. “Judy has been a flash point at the Times for two decades now.”

Dowd said for reporters to be responsible, they cannot blindly trust their sources.

“Reporting is not stenography,” Dowd said.

The Decline of Quality in Public Broadcasting

RWCM Watch


Media People

In all the coverage of Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward ‘s surprise participation in the CIA- spy leak case came the revelation that he demands up to $50,000 a speech. That got us wondering what other notables ask. Some answers: ex-Democratic boss Terry McAuliffe, $10,000 to $30,000; political guru Charlie Cook, $5,000 to $10,000; former Sen. Bob Dole, $30,001 to $75,000; talk radio’s Laura Ingraham, $10,001 to $30,000; Newsweek ‘s Michael Isikoff, $5,000 to $20,000; and NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, $20,001 to $30,000.

Known to political insiders, the Yepsen caucuses are held almost daily in Iowa, as Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen expounds on matters ranging from the war in Iraq to mundane questions of public policy, handicapping races and passing judgment on candidates at almost every level along the way. While he’s best known by the national media for his work leading up to the presidential caucuses, Yepsen has no less impact on state, local and Congressional contests.

“He’s clearly the most influential journalist in Iowa politics; all of the players pay attention to what he writes,” said Arthur Sanders, a professor of politics and international relations at Drake University in Des Moines.
[…]
Academics say he is influential, especially with those Iowans who vote in the caucus elections that go far toward determining whom the Leader of the Free World will be. Democrats and Republicans alike claim he is knowledgeable and fair.
[…]
“He’s the pre-eminent voice, the pre-eminent handicapper — a real sage when it comes to Iowa politics and even national politics,” said John Lapp, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and former aide to Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D). “I’ve worked with him on the Vilsack re-election, in the governor’s office, and on the [then-Rep. Richard] Gephardt (D) presidential campaign, and spent a lot of time trying to win the David Yepsen caucus. He’s a tough critic, but at the end of the day a fair one who cares about his state.”

Yepsen, a self-proclaimed policy wonk, describes himself as a centrist. He supported the war in Iraq and is a proponent for legalizing gay marriage.
[…]
“I know what I say, or don’t say, can have an impact, but you don’t let it go to your head; you take it very seriously. We’re talking about the American presidency here,” Yepsen said in an interview. “If I screw up, the best people in American politics are looking over your shoulder and notice, so you don’t want to screw up.”

According to Republican consultant David Roederer, chairman of President Bush’s re-election campaign in Iowa, that doesn’t happen too often. Roederer said he’s had his disagreements with Yepsen, but he calls him objective and a “real student of politics.” If people are talking Iowa politics, they’re probably repeating something they read in a Yepsen column, or mimicking information that was a topic in a piece he wrote.

“I’d say he’s very thorough; he talks to people before he goes out on a limb,” said Roederer, who is based in Des Moines. “The other thing I’ve always appreciated about David is, if you don’t agree with him, he’ll sit down with you and take your thoughts under consideration. He seems to be very receptive when people bring additional information to him.”

News & Notes on Media orgs, Programming, Specials, etc.

State of the Media, Trends, Research Reports, Innovations

A GROUP OF POLITICALLY LIBERAL Web logs organized into a mini-network of BlogAds has lost some prominent members Wednesday and Thursday, but advertisers were not affected, said BlogAds founder Henry Copeland. Some of the well-trafficked blogs no longer with the mini-network are Drudge Retort, Raw Story, and Smirking Chimp. Drudge Report author Rogers Cadenhead wrote on his site that the reason he and others were dropped was because their sites appear to be more like online news publications than blogs.

One audience member asked how Blitzer could attest to integrity in media when news coverage is increasingly sensationalized with theme songs and animations.

Blitzer responded that this can make a complicated story easier to digest, but on CNN, “I think we don’t go overboard. … Do you?”

“Yeah, I do,” the questioner replied.

[…]

Blitzer said he was surprised that journalists are no longer viewed as “good guys.” He stressed the need for precise, accurate and fair reporting.

“If we stick to our fundamental, core responsibilities as professional journalists, our image with the American public will improve. That’s what I strive to do,” Blitzer said.

He criticized the political polarization of some coverage and the limited news cycle of tragedies such as last year’s tsunami.

In defense of journalists’ mistakes, he said, “We’re a first draft of history. … As all of you who’ve written papers know, the first draft can be wrong.”

Which medium was the 2005 political kingmaker: radio, TV, or print? It was probably a combination of all three media that played key roles in this year’s elections, and reaped record political ad dollars in the process.

[…]

As the Media Monitors study notes, neither party dominated radio ad buys nationally for the November 8th elections. Instead, buys were dominated by winning candidates, whatever their political affiliation.

[…]

Stats from Nielsen Monitor-Plus confirm this picture of a massive upswing in spending on political TV ads in 2005–especially remarkable given that these were “off year” elections. According to Nielsen, from August 1 to October 16th 107,171 political TV ad spots appeared nationwide, with over half–57,682–airing in the 10 biggest markets alone.

Ratings, Circulation, & Ad Revenue Strength

For the year’s third quarter, the monthly unique audience averaged over 41.5 million, or 27.7 percent of all Web users. The time Internet users spend on newspaper sites also continues to rise as users’ visits averaged more than 38 minutes during the quarter.

Media News Monday is a compilation of media news from the past week posted on Monday. Media is an integral part of politics, and I think that it’s important to get to know media and media innovation in order to forecast future ways of campaigning, targeting voters, and disseminating information. If any of you are interested in campaigning, this weekly diary may help you with ideas.  It is also important to keep up with right wing corporate media (RWCM) news.  If you have any media news to add, please do so.  For more RWCM watch & Media News: Penndit’s News, Media News, and RWCM Watch Links. I get the advertising, public relations, targetting voters information, and media research from a variety of sources other than the links above.  Cross-posted at Penndit and My Left Wing. For previous editions, search my diaries or Penndit.  

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