MSNBC Hopes Zimmerman Trial can Rescue Falling Ratings

If you can't beat them....join them.  

MSNBC is hoping George Zimmerman will do something that Chris Hayes and Al Sharpton have not.

Help raise the ratings for the cable news network that admits they don't like news.  

MSNBC says they will cover the Zimmerman trial in-depth, which is something they don't normally do. 

But after MSNBC watched rivals HLN and CNN racked up huge ratings with wall-to-wall coverage of trials like Casey Anthony's and Jodi Arias's they decided to join in.

MSNBC finished the May book fourth place as CNN rode the Arias wave to higer numbers. 

An MSNBC says they will offer "in-depth, continuing coverage" of the Zimmerman trial, and would "cover the criminal proceedings live as news warrants during our regularly scheduled programs."

MSNBC does have a bit of an advantage for the Zimmerman trial. Their own Al Sharpton extremely close to the Martin family and might be able to provide MSNBC with access that other networks may not be able to match.

FTVLive Talent Spotlight- Melinda Davenport

The FTVLive Spotlight shines on Melinda Davenport. Melinda is an Anchor/Reporter currently in the Manchester, New Hampshire market.  You can contact her at melinda@melindadavenport.com 

If you want your Resume featured on FTVLive.com, talk to your agent or email us. You will be seen by thousands of News Managers without the phone calls or the postage. 

They Said it.....

“Attorney General Eric Holder said that despite all the controversies, he has no intention of stepping down. Hey Eric, I didn’t either. Sometimes it just happens.” — Jay Leno

I'm Sorry....Sort of

Glenn Beck says he's sorry, but is it all just part of a bigger plan? 

The former Fox News host host apologized Thursday for “dividing” the country with his conservative and controversial views in recent years.

Beck delivered the mea culpa while accepting a First Amendment award from Talkers magazine, a talk radio trade publication.

The 49-year-old agitator won the award for his defense of free speech, but admitted his own tirades have pitted Americans against each other.

“For any role that I have played in dividing, I wish I can take them back,” he said. “I don’t wish I could take back the truth that was spoken, but perhaps — not perhaps — many times I could have said it differently.”

At least one Beck adversary attributed the apology to self-interest. Angelo Carusone, of the liberal advocacy group Media Matters, said Beck is merely trying to rehab his image so cable and satellite operators agree to broadcast his news and entertainment network, The Blaze.

Stay tuned... 

H/T NY Daily News

O-Town Stations Gear up for Zimmerman Trial

The Orlando stations are getting ready for the Case Anthony Sequel and it starts Tomorrow.

When the topic is the George Zimmerman TV coverage, the discussion inevitably turns to Casey Anthony.

"We as a media learned as we went along with that case because of the way it exploded two years ago," said Jeff Zeller, news director at WOFL-Channel 35. "That's kind of a blueprint, but this is a very different case. We may have more going on in the community."

The Zimmerman case already has generated hundreds of hours of coverage, locally and nationally, about the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. But the stations acknowledge they don't know whether the public will follow Zimmerman with the same fervor accorded the Anthony murder trial.

•WFTV-Channel 9 will telecast the Zimmerman opening statements live, then check how the public is responding, General Manager Shawn Bartelt said. "If the viewer demand is there, we're covering it on Channel 9," Bartelt said.

•WKMG-Channel 6 will put everything on its main channel or subchannel 6.2, which is 463 on Bright House Networks. "We're going to start off taking the trial [on Channel 6]," news director Steve Hyvonen said. "We do anticipate a great deal of viewer interest."

•WOFL has developed plans to cover the trial gavel-to-gavel on its air, Zeller said. "Many things happen in the trial. We'll be flexible," he added. "I think there's significant interest in this community."

•WESH-Channel 2 wouldn't discuss its TV plans. But most stations will stream everything online, starting with jury selection Monday. Central Florida News 13 won't but will post clips and stories through the day. The plan is to cover the entire trial live on News 13, said Elliott Wiser of Bright House.

H/T Orlando Sentinel  

The Top 5 Most Read Stories for the Week that was

Here's a look back at the Top 5 stories that you guys read the most in the past week on FTVlive.com: 

No. 5 -  Dog Gone It.... What Happened?

No. 4 -  This is what you Call "Hard" News

No. 3 -  The Mistakes of TV News - May Edition

No.2 -  Is ABC Going to Pull the Plug on 'Katie'?

And the most read story for the week was: Philly Anchor Cat Fight

HUH?! What Did You Say?!

WGRZ Reporter Danny Spewak ended up in the hospital after filing his first report for the station. 

Was he assaulted? 

Nope. 

Bit by a dog? 

Nope. 

So what happened?  

He went on set to file his first story for the station since coming from KOMU in Missouri. He did not have a fitted IFB, so he pulled one out of a drawer in the newsroom. 

After doing his story on set, he couldn't get the IFB out of his ear. After he and some newsroom staffers tried to remove it...they gave up and he went to the hospital.  

The staff there was able to dislodge the IFB in about 5 minutes. Of course the embarrassment will stick around a lot longer than that.   

Spewak had fun on Twitter addressing his embarrassing moment.

“A Cubs player once got hit by a pitch on his first at-bat and didn’t play for seven years,” wrote Spewak.

“I at least had a better first day than him.”

But at least that player didn't get his bat stuck in his ear.  

KRIV Bumps Up The Deuce

We don't know how the hell he does it, but Bob Morford was once again able to landed a News Directors job. 

Morford was hired as the assistant news director last summer at KRIV.

Tom Doerr was the ND and left for WFLD in Chicago.

Now the station has bumped Morford up the food chain. 

“Bob has proven himself to be a valuable member of our news team,” station general manager D’Artagnan Bebel said in a statement announcing the promotion. “He has led our news innovation efforts and has shown me that he is the right person for the job.”

Morford said he “look(s) forward to expanding our station’s focus on delivering unique and relevant content to our viewers.”

Whatever the hell that means? 

Wishful Thinking Guys

Despite what WOAI in San Antonio put up under LeBron James name, he does not play for the San Antonio Spurs.  

Although we know many Spurs fans that wishes that this font was true.  

Miami Met Heads to the Weather Channel

All the drama surrounding the arrival of Julie Durda at WPLG in Miami turned out to be pretty good for displaced meteorologist Michael Smith.

Smith is the newest meteorologist at The Weather Channel.  

Every meteorologist was shuffled at WPLG when management brought Durda in from WSVN and moved former Weather Channel met Betty Davis to chief meteorologist.

Smith is from Atlanta, so the move to network puts him back home.

He starts next week.