RATINGS FALL FOR OBAMA INAUGURATION — BUT NO MORE THAN USUAL

About 20.6 million people watched President Obama’s second inauguration on 18 broadcast and cable networks on Monday, down 46 percent from 37.8 million who tuned in for his first inauguration in 2009, Nielsen Media Research said on Wednesday. The drop-off was in line with similar second-term inaugurations. The number of viewers for George W. Bush’s […]

OH, YES, THERE WAS AN INAUGURATION TODAY

The TV networks this year are devoting far less time to the presidential inaugural ceremonies than they did a year ago. “The difference is startling,” the New York Daily News commented today (Monday). In an interview with USA Today, CBS newsman Bob Schieffer, who has covered 12 inaugurations, compared the second inauguration to a second […]

RATINGS SLIP FOR THIRD DEBATE

With foreign policy as its principal topic and facing competition against Monday Night Football on ESPN and game 7 of the National League playoffs on Fox TV, the latest presidential debate attracted 59.2 million viewers on ten broadcast and cable networks, down from 67.2 million for the first debate and 65.6 million for the second. […]

REPUBLICANS USING OBAMA’S STUMP SPEECH TO ATTACK HIM

Until now, the stump speech has been a convenient tool of presidential candidates, allowing them to deliver virtually the same remarks at countless “whistle stops” all over the country. But in the day of streaming video, when a candidate’s remarks in every Podunk town can be viewed instantly online, a reassessment of the stump speech […]

WHERE IS FOX PRODUCER RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA ATTACK VIDEO?

Chris White, the Fox News associate producer who was responsible for a four-minute “attack video” aimed at President Obama that aired during the news network’s morning show Fox & Friends, may find himself in career limbo following an outcry from both the right and the left over the video. On Wednesday even some conservative commentators, […]

FOX VIDEO ATTACKS OBAMA; EVEN CONSERVATIVES COMPLAIN

A four-minute video produced by Fox News that attacks the four-year tenure of President Obama has drawn criticism from at least one prominent conservative commentator. Radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist Ed Morrissey said on the conservative media blog Hot Air that the video gives Fox News critics unnecessary ammunition. “If anyone wanted to look […]

BRAD PITT BLENDS POLITICS INTO CRIME DRAMA

Brad Pitt’s Killing Them Softly — he’s both the producer and star — premiered at the Cannes Film Festival today (Tuesday) and promptly courted controversy from both the right and the left. The film is set in 2008 during the presidential election and features clips of president-to-be Obama promising reforms that never came about. As […]

OBAMA ON LATE NIGHT: TOO COOL FOR COOL?

President Obama’s appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Tuesday night produced the show’s best ratings in more than two years. NBC said that it was watched by more than 2 million viewers, citing preliminary Nielsen overnight figures from the nation’s metered markets. But the president immediately came under attack for agreeing to “slow jam […]

GAWKER HIRES A MOLE TO SPY ON FOX NEWS

There’s a mole working at Fox News and feeding inside information to the often snarky Gawker.com website. In this person’s inaugural column, the focus is on the Fox News website in general and the Fox Nation blog in particular. The blog features reports from Fox reporters, then invites readers to comment on them. The blog’s […]

REPORT: OBAMA LETTER HELPED OPEN CHINA TO HOLLYWOOD

In late December, President Obama wrote a personal letter to Chinese president Hu Jintao urging the Chinese leader to make good on repeated promises to allow more foreign films to be shown in the country and to increase the percentage of box-office revenue that foreign producers may receive, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which cited […]

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