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PUH-LEASE! TOO MANY JOURNOS ARE CONTINUING TO MAKE A MOCKERY OF THEIR OWN FIRST AMENDMENT
From the beginning, on my most generous days, I have thought Sarah Palin inartful, polarizing and much better suited for a daytime talk show than the national political scene.
Yesterday I felt a responsiblity to come to her defense after journalists across the country ridiculously placed the blood of the Tuscon shooting victims on her hands. ( URL: http://wp.me/p1cZfB-gv How Are We to Know What Will Push Someone Over the Edge? « shelley ross daily Xpress https://shelleyzross.wordpress.com/2011/0….)
I much prefered writing satire about her (Sarah Palin’s ‘Alaska’: 7 Secret Political Messages in Her New Reality Show at http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/pop-vox/2010/11/15/sarah-palin-s-alaska-7-secret-political-messages-in-her-new-reality-show.html ) and (Palin vs. Trump: The Reality Show Mark Burnett Should Create at http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/pop-vox/2010/11/22/sarah-palin-versus-donald-trump-which-mark-burnett-reality-star-could-win-the-white-house.html.)
But here I am again, defending a politician in whom I find little to even like (especially after watching her shoot that beautiful Alaskan reindeer for sport — ‘no, no, not Rudolph’ I yelled into my pillow.) I feel that I must, after the new round of ridiculous attacks on her for posting a 7:43 videotaped response to the Arizona tradegy on Facebook today, most regarding her utterance of the term, blood libel.
MUIR BREAKS ABC NEWS’ RATINGS RECORD SEASON-TO-DATE, ANCHORS ONLY WEEK FOR NET WITHOUT YEAR-TO-YEAR DECLINE
David Muir: the next generation of ABC News?
You won’t read this in their press releases, but a stealth weapon has been discovered at ABC News. TMZ has already called him the “Brad Pitt of network anchors.”
TMZ may prove to be way ahead of ABC’s revolving research and management teams.
His name is David Muir and remember that you read it here first: the holiday week Muir filled in for Diane Sawyer, a rare week without an ABC News press release to spin, er tout the ratings, David Muir increased the viewership of adults 25-54 by a whopping 8% over the year before. And that week, the week of December 27th, was the only week of the entire season-to-date (the past 16 weeks) that the demo at ABC News has increased over the prior year.
Some keen observers may say the boost was due to the big snow storm hitting parts of the east coast, especially New York where Brian Williams reported outside in the snow. He was up 10% year to year. CBS News with newly deposed morning anchor Harry Smith filling in for Katie Couric, however, was down 9%.
NEW ABC PRESS RELEASE OUT TODAY
Interestingly, today ABC News issued a press release today lauding the week of January 3rd with the headline: “World News with Diane Sawyer” Draws Second Most Watched Week in Nearly a Year. (The most watched week? Shhhh, David Muir.) Read the rest of this entry »
YOU’RE BLOWING YOUR TEACHABLE MOMENT
New network show Tuesday night, with same old story?
Paula Abdul is back. It’s a new year, and a new network show for her on CBS debuting Tuesday night, ” Live to Dance.” But given her shameless interview with Julie Chen this weekend, it’s the same old lies and obfuscation regarding the slurring, blurring and odd behavior of the past.
Hey, Paula, it’s 2011, and time to tell the truth which, I suppose, will not hurt and could actually help a vast number of your fans.
You see, there’s a surge of tremendous good will behind you after getting bounced from American Idol. (Oh, I forgot, you turned down their “lowball” offer.) Simon Cowell embracing you like a kid sister getting “noogies” did wonders for public opinion when even die hard fans started to see you as a crazy Aunt.
Your great dance videos will always remind us of the hard work, life force and sheer talent on which you built your career which is sprinkled with one grammy, two emmy awards and six number one singles.
So why put Julie Chen in the awkward position of asking questions you won’t answer completely or honestly. In fact, why would CBS News or Les Moonves allow that?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/30/sunday/main7198572.shtml?
Okay, take a look at the excerpt from the Sunday Morning broadcast released by CBS News which you can either click on above or read as follows:
CHEN: Well, what bugs you that people say about you that you know, and your friends and family know that is just not you?
ABDUL: I am intelligent. I am–
CHEN: But, people don’t give you enough credit for having a brain.
ABDUL: Having a brain, that’s a concept, yes, with Paula Abdul. I have a brain.
CHEN: There is some unflattering video of you out there. It has appeared on Idol. Did you ever have a drinking problem?
ABDUL: I’ve never had a drinking problem… Even though I’ve been in this business for quite some time. I’ve never physically been drunk in my life. I’ve never been drunk in my life. I don’t use recreational drugs. But, I am goofy.
CHEN: So, it’s just Paula.
ABDUL: It’s Paula. It is Paula. And, even the people on Idol know that none of that existed, ever.
“Goofy?” Goofy is daring to give the wife of the chairman of CBS a load of bull — not on The Talk, but on an award-winning broadcast on CBS News.
On the other hand, perhaps an inartful or goofy question — one that has a goofy premise about a drinking problem instead of prescription drug abuse — deserves a goofy answer.
Why not simply ask: “Were you intoxicated or under the influence of any substance in this video?” or “Why do you think so many people are reposting so many video clips where you seem so out of it?”
I Think the Sherwood Video is Wickedly Funny, but “Alan Smithee” Will Have to Get the Credit
note from your friendly blogarist: “Anonymousity” will be a continuing discussion in our daily Xpress, the blog with the slug line “we put our name to it.”
The inaugural address parody of Ben Sherwood is now viral, at least throughout the news business. And it is more than a stunning welcome for the new president of ABC News.
As vividly as I can recall “Where were you when Kennedy was shot?” and “Where were you when the space shuttle blew up,” I suspect I will always be able to answer “Where were you when you first saw the Sherwood video?”
While I think it is wickedly funny, I also think it’s a scathing, and harmful indictment of Anne Sweeney and her decision who will lead ABC News out of the mess in which they are now mired. And I think that’s too bad. I, for one, would like to see ABC News, where I spent 17 years of my career, restored to its glory days and financial stability.
ABC NEWS FORECAST: BLAMESTORM WINDS GATHERING
Years ago, when Betsy West left ABC News to be a vice president at CBS, I sent her a going away card that read, “We don’t blame you for leaving…” continuing on the inside, “but after you’re gone, we’ll blame you for everything else.”
It’s particularly funny to anyone who knows the standard operating procedures of network news. I should have bought a stack of cards to send “notes to self” over the past five years.
Sadly, over the years, ABC News has been reduced to a toxic soup of pathologic gossip, witch hunts and abuse of power by management. Someone took the humanity out of human resources and turned it into a weapon of mass destruction. Read the rest of this entry »
Should A Man Get Away with a “No Condom” Maneuver in the Morning?
REGISTER YOUR VOTE HERE
Radical acts: always good for one's sex life
Long before AIDS and other awful STDs, when the only consequence of unprotected sex was getting pregnant, jerks the world over pulled the alleged “Assange” maneuver the morning after. With daybreak testosterone rising, a bedroomy guy who was given no choice but to wear a condom the night before, would roll over and make a “raincoat-free” move, as if all formalities had disappeared and he could kick his shoes off at the dinner table.
Now, at the close of 2010, Julian Assange is fighting extradition to Sweden after finding himself the center of a worldwide manhunt, then arrested by British authorities because two women he bedded in the same week swapped their unsafe sex stories and went to the police to demand he take a test for HIV.
The Guardian, one of the original Wikileak partners, has now leaked some of Assange’s Swedish police report. So in addition to publishing a quarter of a million cables from 250 American embassies worldwide the paper is now reporting how Assange’s revolutionary, possibly treasonous acts have certainly been good for his sex life. Okay, that news may not exactly stop the presses; preaching a passion for bringing world peace through radical acts has been an aphrodisiac throughout the ages.
It seems everyone is now dissecting Assange’s ego and the sex life that has grown exponentially with his Google pages. We’ve even learned Assange had the audacity to steal the girlfriend of a known American journalist. They apparently went outside during dinner at a restaurant, were seen holding hands and whispering, and she never returned to the hotel room she shared with her boyfriend. (Okay, so women can be jerks, too.)
But back to Assange’s police report excerpts. The Guardian reporter wrote that Julian Assange has “a fetish” for unsafe sex.
Who doesn’t?
note from your friendly blogarist: “Paint by Numbers” will be an occasional, yet regular, feature of daily Xpress meant to reach behind the press releases for a more accurate picture of the state of broadcast news than reported by MSM and industry websites.
KEEPING THEM HONEST
The inaugural column of Paint by Numbers looks at this week’s entry from “TV Newser” reporting the current state of competition amongst the morning shows. Here’s our first tutorial: the story re-posted here is based on a press release which addresses Nielsen’s tally of total viewers, a common public relations ploy. Those who understand the business of the news business know the only viewership that matters, the viewership which determines profitability and stability, is adults 25-54, more commonly called the demo.
The Today Show winning streak is not challenged. But the fight for #2 and #3 may not quite look the same in the Paint by Numbers that follows the TVNewser take:
Morning Show Ratings: Week of Dec.6
By Molly Stark Dean on December 16, 2010 2:20 PM
The “Today” show was still on top last week — another week closer to a 16-year streak.
“Today” topped #2 “Good Morning America,” but GMA cut the total viewing gap with NBC’s “Today” by -10% week-to-week and -20% year-to-year. Co-anchor George Stephanopoulos was in Afghanistan Monday, and off Tuesday.
“GMA” increased its total viewership by 2% week-to-week.
CBS’ “The Early Show” increased by 7K from week-to-week.
The averages for the week of December 6:
Total Viewers: NBC: 5.65M / ABC: 4.68M / CBS: 3.09M
A25-54 rating: NBC: 2.68M / ABC: 1.75M / CBS: 1.28M
UPDATED TODAY!
CAUTIONARY TALE OF SEX, LIES AND SKEWED STATISTICS
Heidi Jones Got Some Splainin'
Just imagine, while police on Long Island were investigating the horrifying sex crimes and murders of four women whose bodies were callously dumped on a local beach, cops in Manhattan were running around on a wild goose chase created by WABC weather gal Heidi Jones who was arrested this week on charges that made up a story about an attack and attempted rape while jogging in Central Park.
updated 12/18/10: The Daily News reports today that her bogus report of a man dragging her off a jogging train drew in detectives from across the city and a police detail assigned to her personally for security and surveillance. They also reported that WABC also provided security.
Heidi, here’s your community service assignment: use your reporting skills to crunch the numbers and find out how many women actually cry/lie rape or attempted rape and file false reports. Then research why. I’ve been reporting on rape for 30 years and I still can’t get to the bottom of this mystery. Read the rest of this entry »
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