Over the Hump We Go!
/Your friends at Devlin Design Group want to help you over the Wednesday hurdle with some inspiration.
Oopsy
/From the big oops department, we give you CNN's Jake Tapper.
Yesterday, Tapper offered up his well wishes to Presidential Candidate Ben Carson over the passing of his mother, Sonya Carson.
Only one problem: She never died.
At the conclusion of an interview between the Tapper and Carson on “The Lead,” Tapper sent his “deepest condolences” to the 2016 presidential candidate, adding how much he knew his mother meant to him.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you since you lost your mother, and I just wanted to send our deepest condolences on your lost,” Tapper told Carson. “I know she meant a great deal to you.”
He was surprised to learn she was was still alive.
Let's go to the video:
H/T Daily Caller
Comedy Central Jacks up Ad Rates for Jon Stewart's Goodbye
/
Comedy Central is going to cash in big on Jon Stewart signing off from The Daily Show.
The network is asking advertisers to plunk down more than $1 million to buy ads across the network in order to secure a spot during the Aug. 6 finale.
The buy-in packages have gone as high as $2 million, according to ad buyers.
“They’re definitely trying to monetize this,” said one ad buyer. “The ad people have stepped up and it’s been good for them. They’ve been able to leverage substantial packages this quarter.”
As part of those packages, the Viacom-owned network also jacked up the rate for a single 30-second to between $200,000 and $250,000 — a huge hike from the usual $30,000 to $40,000 the show charges.
One source familiar with pricing told The NY Post that current rates are going for “10 times” the cost of the regular season as finale day nears.
The last few nights leading up to his farewell are fetching as much as $100,000, buyers said.
The sky-high rates are getting closer to those of a prime-time show. AMC’s “Walking Dead” is currently the most expensive scripted show on TV, with spots selling for $400,000, according to Ad Age. NBC’s Sunday night NFL coverage tops the list at $627,000 for a 30-second spot.
Network Pulls Plug on National Newscast
/
Just days shy of its 3rd year anniversary, Spanish networkMundoFox is no more. The network, now fully owned by Colombia’s RCN Televisión, has switched names to MundoMax.
The network also cancelled “Noticias MundoFox,” the national newscast that aired at 5:30 and 10:30 pm PT/ET, laying off its entire staff.
About 35 news personnel lost their jobs, including anchor Rolando Nichols, the show’s reporters, producers, editors and news management.
According to inside sources, news staffers were told during a meeting yesterday morning that there would be no newscast and they were all being laid off.
A source says the affiliates were given no prior notice about the network name change or the cancellation of the national newscast.
H/T Media Moves
Fox News Lowers Threshold for Early Debate
/
When it comes to the GOP debate on Fox News Channel, there will be two debates back to back.
The main event will be in prime time and the so called losers debate will be at 5PM.
FNC had set a rule that even to be in the losers debate, participants had to reach at least 1 percent in polling.
Now Fox News has thrown that out and is pretty much letting everyone in.
The change lets candidates who were in danger of being disqualified from the first debate based on low polls – Carly Fiorina, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The announcement by Michael Clemente, Fox News Executive Vice President, News, means that all 16 announced candidates will qualify for Cleveland — either the 5 p.m. undercard, or the 9 p.m. main event.
The 9 p.m. debate will include the 10 candidates with the highest average in national polls, as determined by Fox News. The 5 p.m. forum will now include all the rest.
According to a POLITICO the prime-time participants today would be Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rick Perry.
H/T Politico
Another Win for Lester
/
"NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt" had the most viewers last week for the fifth week in a row. And that means Holt has won that count every week since he became permanent anchor.
NBC averaged 7.657 million total viewers to ABC's 7.440 million and CBS' 6.064 million.
But "ABC World News Tonight With David Muir" topped NBC and the "CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley" in the 25-to-54 age group, which is most important to news advertisers.
In that count, ABC averaged 1.896 million viewers to NBC's 1.841 million and CBS' 1.344 million.
Season to date in total viewers, ABC is up 6 percent, CBS is up 3 percent and NBC is off 3 percent.
H/T Orlando Sentinel
MSNBC Shows Ratings Growth in July
/
It's July, so it really does mean much, but MSNBC did show some signs of life in the summer month.
For July 2015, MSNBC showed more month-to-month growth than all other cable news networks.
Many key MSNBC programs saw ratings improvements up from June 2015, including growth for “Morning Joe” (up 10%), “The Rachel Maddow Show” (up 7%), “Hardball with Chris Matthews” (up 11%), “All In with Chris Hayes” (up 13%) and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” (up 23%), among total viewers.
A number of MSNBC programs also topped CNN among total viewers, including “Morning Joe”, “The Ed Show”, “Hardball”, “PoliticsNation”, “The Rachel Maddow Show”, “The Last Word”, "All in" and in the Primetime M-F 8-11p daypart. In the A25-54 demo, MSNBC saw Total Day growth up 3% from July 2014 and up 6% from June 2015, and for Primetime, MSNBC was up 8% over June 2015.
Like we said, it's July, but hey it's better than going backwards. Right?
BOO!!
/That moment when the guy creeps into your live shot but you don't know:
:-D Haha, I love live T.V. I'm not sure who was more scared, Wendy or the guy, Lol!
Posted by Mollie Philpott-Ferreyra on Tuesday, July 28, 2015
California Anchor Busted in Domestic Violence Incident
/
KBAK (Bakersfield) Anchor Kurt Rivera was arrested Sunday evening after deputies responded to an alarm call of a woman screaming she was being assaulted at a home in east Bakersfield, according to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies arrived at the scene and contacted Rivera and 36-year-old Mandy Morrow, who live together at the residence.
Deputies said Rivera and Morrow had physically assaulted each other, and Morrow told them Rivera then damaged the alarm keypad to prevent her from calling law enforcement. She said he also refused to allow her to leave the home.
Rivera was arrested for battery and false imprisonment and on suspicion of damaging a communication device to prevent a person from calling law enforcement for assistance.
Morrow was arrested on suspicion of spousal battery, and both were booked into the downtown jail.
Rivera and Morrow were not listed as current jail inmates Monday afternoon.
Rivera joined KBAK Eyewitness News in June 2004 after working as an anchor/reporter at KGET Channel 17 in Bakersfield, according to his online bio. He began his journalism career as a news photographer at KESQ-TV in Palm Springs before joining KERO-TV in Bakersfield the following year.
Teresa Burgess, vice president and general manager of KBAK, did not return a call seeking comment. A message left at a phone number believed to be Rivera’s was not returned.
Man Indicted in Robbery Attempt of Former CNN Anchor
/
An Albuquerque man accused of conspiring to rob two former CNN reporters at a motel was indicted by a Bernalillo Co. grand jury Monday on multiple felony charges.
Skyy Barrs, 30, was arrested July 9 and has now been indicted on two counts of kidnapping with a firearm, aggravated burglary, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of attempted armed robbery, two counts of assault with intent to commit a violent felony, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Barrs's bond has been set at $500,000 cash only.
The July 9 arrest warrant for Barrs says he and his girlfriend drove a Chevy Malibu to the Motel 6 on Albuquerque's west side late on the night of June 30. Surveillance footage shows Barrs, his girlfriend and a third person in the car after dropping Walton off.
An APD source told police Barrs and Walton were going to "hit a lick" – slang for committing a robbery – that night. Police say the source told them Barrs gave Walton the gun he used to try and rob de Caro and his wife, former CNN anchor Lynne Russell, that night.
The source also told police that Barrs used Walton "as one of his 'slaves', so [Barrs] sent [Walton] with the gun."
According to the arrest warrant, Barrs also went and picked up Walton briefly after he collapsed in the parking lot after being shot by de Caro three times. However, he then left him there and drove away.
A police search warrant on Walton's phone also showed that he and Barrs exchanged text messages from earlier that evening just after 9 p.m., and a missed call from Barrs at 11:35 p.m. that night.
The arrest warrant says that "Tomorio's death was caused by the actions of Skyy Barrs for planning to 'hit a lick' and providing Tomorio with a firearm. Tomorio and Skyy are both convicted felons."
H/T KOB
TV News Hiring Grows (Barely) in 2014
/
The good news? There was more hiring in TV newsrooms last yet.
The bad news? It was only by 1%.
In a RTDNA survey, it shows that Total local TV news employment rose by 1.1% in 2014 -- adding 300 people. That puts total TV news staffing at 27,600. And that puts the year in third place in overall local TV news employment behind 2012 and 2000.
Generally, TV newsrooms keep growing in size ... but there aren't as many of them as in past years. The 2014 growth didn't completely make up the 400 jobs lost in 2013, but it covers most of them. Stations moved into news, and stations moved out ... and we enter 2015 down 2 from last year's 719 stations originating local news. That puts us back to where we were in 2013, which was the eighth straight year of declines.
The average TV station hired 6 replacements during 2014 and 1.3 new, additional positions. Replacements are up half a person this year, while new hires are exactly the same as a year ago.
Which jobs get replaced in the newsroom most? Reporters and Producers.
Here are the top jobs that are replaced in the newsroom:
1. Reporters ... barely edging out #2.
2. Producers ... way ahead of #3. Both in the same spots as last year.
3. Anchors ... just ahead #4.
4. MMJs ... a bit ahead of #5.
5. Photographers ... just about double #6.
6. Weather ... modestly ahead of #7.
7. Sports ... including, anchor, reporter and producer ... a little ahead of #8.
8. Video editor ... noticeably ahead of closely ranked #9 and #10.
9. Assignment editor/desk
10. Web/social media
Ummmmm....
/Fox 5 (San Diego) Reporter Walter Morris overheard the audio technician playing The Whip/Nae Nae during a commercial break and he start dancing.
The crew back at the station made sure to hit record.
Yep, this happened on the FOX 5 morning show today#SOsandiego
Posted by Fox 5 San Diego on Monday, July 27, 2015
CNN Assignment Editor Has Gone Twitter Silent
/
The flag was covered in dildos and was not an ISIS flag at all.
The story, that was not a story was broken by CNN International Assignment Editor Lucy Pawle.
It was one of the most embarrassing moments (but by far not the only one) for the Jeff Zucker regime at CNN.
Pawle went on Twitter the day of this embarrassment and tried to deny that she even reported the story. Unfortunately, in a world full of DVR's, that didn't work out very well.
Last week, Jeff Zucker held a town hall meeting with the staff at CNN and was asked why the network never apologized for the embarrassing mistake?
The CNN boss did admit that the dildo flag was an embarrassment to the network but insisted that there was nothing to merit an apology.
Huh?!
Your network gets a story DEAD WRONG and you don't believe there is any reason to correct it or apologize?
As for Pawle, she has not posted a single tweet since that fateful dildo day.
Guess she is also taking the Jeff Zucker approach of not admitting to the mistake.
Al Sharpton to Start Criticizing the Critics
/MSNBC host Al Sharpton is setting up a website that will take aim at his critics.
Sharpton wants to “flip the script” with his site called The Shift Daily: the news source for today’s millennial activist.
And it seems like one of the first articles for his site is looking to save the damaged of his daughter, Dominique.
The site isn't finished yet, but Media Equalizer was able to sneak a peek at its current content and not only is their a glowing story about Sharpton's daughter, she also seems to be a writer for the site.
Via Instagram, the National Action Network’s Rachel Noerd says that “for decades reporters & now bloggers have been writing about @real_sharpton & @nationalaction. Now NAN will flip the script & write about them. They say if you don’t define your reality, others will do it for you. It’s important to support community newspapers, blogs and media outlets that represent your needs & values.”
We can hardly wait until this site goes live.
This should be some very entertaining fiction....ummmmm.... reading.
Bob Iger Gives ABC a Shot in the Arm
/
Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger is still bullish on ABC.
"ABC is still an important business for us," Iger told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "It's very healthy content creation business. Whether you are talking about the programming that we own and produce in prime time or ABC News, it's a profitable business. It's a business that we are proud to be in, and it's still in my heart."
Of course Iger has close ties to the TV side of the business. Before ascending the corporate ranks at Disney, Iger was chairman of the ABC Group and oversaw the broadcast television and station group.
He started at ABC in 1974, and his skill took him to the top of that network.
But Joe Kernen of "Squawk Box" responded by saying of ABC: "Shrinking, though, isn't it?"
Iger, however, still defended ABC. "Well, if you look at the size of the company, because the company has grown, particularly given the acquisitions and growth in international markets, you know, there are a few of our businesses that don't loom as large as they once did," Iger said. "But that doesn't mean they're not important."
ABC was the only major broadcast network up with the 18-to-49 age group last season. The network had new hits last fall with "How to Get Away With Murder" and "black-ish."
In news, "Good Morning America" remains the leader in early morning, and "ABC World News Tonight With David Muir" has grown this season. Diane Sawyer's interview with the future Caitlyn Jenner underscored that network news can still draw viewers.
H/T Orlando Sentinel
