Wednesday, May 22, 2013



TV News from STUDIO BRIEFING

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TARGETS ANOTHER REPORTER

James RosenCriticism of the Obama administration’s efforts to plug leaks by targeting reporters escalated on Monday after it was disclosed that the Justice Department had investigated Fox News’s chief Washington DC correspondent James Rosen for allegedly soliciting classified information. The Washington Post on Monday said that Rosen was... Read more of this article

CORD CUTTING IS REAL, STUDY INDICATES

It’s no longer a potential threat to cable TV and satellite providers. People actually are canceling their subscriptions and getting their TV entertainment exclusively via the Internet. Daily Variety, in an article headlined “Cord-Cutting: At Last, Hard Evidence It’s Really Happening,” cited a recent analysis by Leichtman Research... Read more of this article

RATINGS PLUMMET FOR SEASON/SERIES FINALES

For the most part, season and series finales aren’t the big deal that they once were. That certainly seemed to be the case on Monday. On CBS the series final of Rules of Engagement and the season finale of Hawaii Five-0 were each down double digits from last year. On ABC, the performance finale of Dancing with the Stars was also down substantially... Read more of this article

TORNADO REPORTS: THEY GOT IT WRONG AGAIN

Once again the news media today (Tuesday) were being criticized for failing to question official pronouncements about a tragedy. After reporting most of the day that 91 persons had been killed in the Oklahoma tornado, with that figure likely to rise, and comparing the calamity with previous weather-related disasters, the cable news networks were forced... Read more of this article

AP CHIEF CALLS PHONE RECORDS SEIZURE “UNCONSTITUTIONAL”

In perhaps the strongest condemnation ever delivered by the Association Press against an action by a U.S. administration, the AP’s president and CEO on Sunday called the seizure of AP phone records last year “unconstitutional” and maintained that the action has already had chilling consequences for press freedom. Appearing on CBS’s... Read more of this article

EUROVISION FINALE DRAWS 125 MILLION VIEWERS

The finale of the Eurovision 2013 talent contest, staged this year in Malmö, Sweden, attracted an audience of about 125 million. Rarely has the contest launched the career of a new performer (although several used-to-bes regularly are selected as contestants), and it is often roundly lampooned on comedy shows throughout Europe. This year’s... Read more of this article

BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS SOAR IN RATINGS

He was roundly booed after performing twice and receiving two awards, but Justin Bieber was no doubt a significant factor in ABC’s telecast of the Billboard Music Awards drawing its best ratings in 12 years Sunday night. The three-hour show averaged 9.47 million viewers and a 3.6 rating/10 share among the key 18-49 age group. It clobbered the... Read more of this article

NBC INSTALLS BRIT AS NBC NEWS PRESIDENT

NBC confirmed today (Monday) that it has gone outside its own news organization to hire a new president of NBC News. She is Deborah Turness, former editor of Britain’s ITV News, who replaces Steve Capus. The announcement was made by Patricia Fili-Krushel, chairman of NBCUniversal News Group. Turness will oversee all of NBC’s news programming,... Read more of this article

RATINGS CRASH FOR IDOL SEASON FINALE

For the first time in its history, the season finale of Fox’s American Idol did not attract 20 million viewers. Far from it. Last night’s closer, in which soul singer Candice Glover triumphed over country singer Kree Harrison and judge Randy Jackson bade farewell after 12 seasons, drew 13.61 million viewers, according to overnight Nielsen... Read more of this article

TENNIS’S U.S. OPEN GOING FROM FREE TV TO PAY TV — NO ONE OBJECTS

There was a time when consumer groups regularly warned that as cable continued to grow it might eventually grab many of the events that people were able to watch free via over-the-air broadcasts. Now those warnings appear old-fashioned as more than 90 percent of households are connected to cable or satellite service providers. Indeed, hardly a word... Read more of this article

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