PELLEY SAYS SOCIAL MEDIA UNDERMINING SOLID REPORTING

CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley had a response on Friday to those online critics of the mainstream media who say that they would rather get their news from social media than from CBS and the New York Times. “Twitter, Facebook and Reddit: that’s not journalism. That’s gossip. Journalism was invented as an antidote to […]

AUDIENCES TO DECIDE ENDING FOR HAWAII FIVE-0 WHODUNNIT

In yet another attempt to converge social media with old-fashioned TV, the producers of the CBS drama Hawaii Five-0 will allow viewers to vote on how the Jan. 14 episode will end. There will be three possible murder suspects in the plot, with evidence that could convict any of them. It will be the job […]

IDOL DOMINATES ON TWITTER

What Fox’s American Idol may have lacked in audience numbers this past season, it more than made up for in tweets. Citing figures from social analytics firm Bluefin Labs, AdWeek reported today (Friday) that the past season of Idol generated 5,956,134 social comments, setting a Twitter record. By contrast, No. 2 on the list, NBC’s […]

BRITISH X FACTOR BAND DEBUTS IN U.S. AT NO. 1

A five-member “boy band” that was a third-place finisher on the British version of The X Factor has accomplished what no other British pop group has — not the Beatles, not the Rolling Stones, not Led Zeppelin, not Queen. One Direction has become the first British group to debut at No. 1 on Billboard‘s album […]

TEXTING IN THEATERS? MANY WANT IT

People texting in theaters during a movie is one of the reasons often cited for the continued decline in attendance in recent years. Many theaters now precede movies with announcements asking patrons not to text, not to talk, and to turn off their cellphones and pagers. Some chains have even thrown out moviegoers who ignore […]

CHINA BLOCKS ALL FOREIGN SHOWS IN PRIMETIME

A new Great Wall is being built around Chinese television shows. China’s State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television on Tuesday banned all foreign-produced television programs during primetime and limited them to no more than 25 percent of a TV station’s lineup at other times. The official China Daily said that the rules were intended […]

GRAMMYS BEAT SUPER BOWL — ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK

When it comes to social media postings. the Super Bowl takes a backseat to the Grammy Awards. In a joint news release on Monday, the Recording Academy and CBS Interactive said that the awards telecast set a new social TV record with more than 13 million online comments. “The interplay between Twitter, Facebook and Grammy […]