FCC Looking at Non-Concussion-Related NFL Blackouts

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The FCC yesterday released a proposed rule-making that would eliminate sports-blackout rules created in 1975 that prohibit broadcasting NFL games in markets in which the home team doesn't sell-out the stadium, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

Final action on the proposal wouldn't occur before Spring 2014, at the earliest, the Times reported, but proponents, including Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D.-Conn.) and opponents, the National Football League and the National Association of Broadcasters, are already girding for battle.

Advocates for eliminating the blackout point out that when the broadcast restriction was first imposed, ticket sales were the NFL's bread-and-butter, whereas now, merchandise and television are the league's principal revenue sources.  Opponents fear no-blackout means pay-tv channels will swoop in to air the gridiron contests at the expense of  revenues to local free broadcasters.

Laying Less Cable

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Cable television viewership declined at the three largest cable networks, according to the Huffington Post, citing a report in Variety.

Fox News Channel remained the alpha dog among its competitors, but experienced a 13 percent drop in its prime time audience compared to a year ago, according to Variety. Likewise, MSNBC was off 29 percent and CNN 15 percent.  HLN actually showed a 21 percent gain over its 2012 audience.

With 2014 being an election year, polarized voters are likely to boost their favorite cable news network ratings.

NPR Banks $17m in Grant Money--That's a Lot of Tote Bags

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National Public Radio today will announce $17 million in grants, the lion's share of which NPR will devote to financing a new Web and mobile platform, the New York Times reported today.

Roughly $10 million in grants will go toward creating, according to NPR, a "seamless local-national listening platform." Sources for the grant money include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the John & James Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Wallace Foundation, the Times article noted.

Because the grants are for specific projects, they will not affect NPR's $6 million deficit that is expected to prompt a 10 percent staff reduction in 2014 (see "TUOL" post 9/13/13).

Cuomo Vadis?

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Media circles were all abuzz yesterday when CNN New Day host Chris Cuomo interviewed his bro, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, about Sunday's tragic Metro-North train derailment, according to a story in today's New York Times.

Conflict of interest, wailed some media types who watched the six-minute interview, arguing that journalists can't objectively cover family members. No attempt to deceive viewers, countered defenders of the interview, who considered the kerfuffle much ado about nothing.

For his part, Chris Cuomo said he would not interview Andrew for a political story, but saw no problem soliciting information from him about the train disaster. As for the ethics-sensitive staff of "TUOL," we can't wait for TLC to air a reality show featuring Chris, Andrew and most essential, papa Mario. They can call it Cuomo Esta Ustad?--it's got to be more insightful than Honey Boo-Boo.

No Need to Stay Up Late With Alec Baldwin Anymore; MSNBC Show Cancelled

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Paltry ratings, alleged diva-esque behavior and a two-week suspension over a purported homophobic rant against a New York Post photographer has led to MSNBC cancelling the weekly Up Late With Alec Baldwin gabfest after only four episodes, the Post reported yesterday.

Baldwin, whose acting ability on Tina Fey's 30 Rock sitcom and in films such as Glengarry Glen Ross has made him a fan fave of "TUOL," drew only 395,000 viewers for his interview of actress Debra Winger on what proved to be his final MSNBC show after complaints from gay rights advocates and others led MSNBC to suspend him for two weeks after his run-in with the Post photog who was snapping pics of Baldwin's wife and child.

Unnamed sources at MSNBC claimed Baldwin was difficult to work with, and made numerous unreasonable demands, such as his own make-up room. "TUOL" sheds only crocodile tears for MSNBC over the failed Baldwin talk show, because this blog prefers talk show hosts who are journalists discussing matters of substance over infotainment vanity yakfests.

Geraldo Kicked Off the National Express; Forced to Take the 'Local'

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Cumulus Media, Inc., which has nationally syndicated Geraldo Rivera's radio show since 2012, announced that beginning in January 2014, Rivera will be heard only on 77 WABC Radio in New York City, hosting a new program devoted to social and political issues affecting Gotham, Politico reported this week.

Rivera, who still toils at Fox News, will air 10 a.m. to noon on WABC beginning January 1. The 70-year-old Rivera no longer is a marquis name to a new generation of talk radio shut-ins, lacking the national clout and bombast of a Rush Limbaugh.

Perhaps returning to his New York roots will revive the "good" Geraldo, a Peabody Award-winning journalist/lawyer for ABC News in the early '70s, rather than the "bad" Geraldo fighting with Neo-Nazi skinheads on his tabloid talk show and unveiling debris in Al Capone's vault.

Couric Perkily Poised to Jump to Yahoo!

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Fresh from luring David Pogue from the New York Times (see "TUOL" post 10/22/13), Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer's latest coup is expected to be formally announced today--Katie Couric will join the Internet Service Provider as its global news anchor, according to the Allthingsd.com Web site.

Couric is presently wrapping up the second season of her ABC-syndicated talk show, Katie, which she signed onto for a three-year haul in 2012 reportedly for a cool $20 million (see "TUOL" post 6/6/11). Previously, she anchored the CBS Evening News for five years and co-hosted NBC's Today. "Katie" is sagging in the ratings but is still among the highest for syndicated programs.

She is expected to conduct online interviews of prominent politicians, celebrities and business leaders forYahoo! The ISP already is the online news partner of ABC News. "Katie's Take," already is featured on Yahoo! and features re-jiggered content from her talk show.

ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., reportedly holds rights to Couric's digital outpouring for the life of the three-year contract, which is probably among the many "t's & i's" being crossed and dotted in preparation for today's formal announcement.

Digital Newspapers Don't Have a Monopoly on Paywalls

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ABC Cincinnati affiliate WCPO-TV, the flagship station of E.W.Scripps Co., will erect a paywall in 2014 for its online content, according to Poynter.org.

Poynter.org cites a NetNewsCheck post indicating WCPO has boosted its digital reporting presence by adding 30 editorial staffers. E.W. Scripps announced last year plans to erect paywalls for its newspaper holdings, which number 14. Overall, roughly 41 percent of the nation's daily newspapers have paywalls, according to Digital First Media.

'Money Honey to Become Fox 'Fox'?

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After a 20-year run at CNBC, two-time Emmy winning business reporter Maria Bartiromo is leaving to join Fox Business Network ("FBN").

Credit the Drudge Report with the scoop on the departure of Bartiromo, one of CNBC's breakout stars, who acquired the sobriquet "Money Honey" in a career that also has included a stint at CNN, writing columns for USA Today and authoring three books. The 46-year-old Bartiromo will gain exposure reporting on Fox News, as well as FBN.

Among advertisers' favorite demographic group, those between the ages of 25 and 54, CNBC draws three times as many viewers as FBN.

CNN Snatches Stelter from Gray Lady

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After a six-year stint as media reporter for the New York Times, Brian Stelter will become senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide and host of Reliable Sources, Politico reported.

Stelter succeeds Howie Kurtz as host of the CNN Sunday morning media critiquefest. The 28 year old is former editor of the TVNewser.com blog

UPDATE: Al Jazeera America Snags Suarez to Host 'Inside Story'

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Less than a month after he departed the PBS NewsHour after a 14-year run (see "TUOL" post 10/15/13), most recently as chief national correspondent, Ray Suarez will helm Inside Story, a news analysis program, for Al Jazeera America, according to mediabistro.com's TV Newser Web site.

Suarez begins his new gig on November 11. The former host of NPR's Talk of the Nation is quoted in the TV Newser item as having told Fox News Latino that PBS lacked a plan for him, which caused him to doubt whether he had a future at the public broadcasting network.

Cable News Rivals Compete to Kill-Off Ill Congressman

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Eighty-two-year-old Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), whose 43 years in the House makes him Florida's longest-serving Congressman, is gravely ill at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, according to an Associated Press report today.

A sad turn of events for Young, who just last week announced his intent to retire from Congress, but not as sad as the fate bestowed on him yesterday, initially by Fox News' Gretchen Carlson on-air, and then via Twitter separately by MSNBC's Frank Thorp and Luke Russert, according to the Politico Web site.

During her afternoon gabfest, Carlson reported a Fox News Alert that Young had died, only to apologize and issue a correction later in the broadcast. Meanwhile, Russert and Thorp each tweeted that Young wouldn't get any older, only to tweet again that their reports of his death, like Mark Twain once said, were greatly exaggerated.

As a long-time member of the House Appropriations Committee, Young oversaw military appropriations. Unfortunately, for him and his loved ones, there is no defense to sloppy journalism. "Get it first, get it fast, and (maybe) get it right," just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Suarez Departing PBS NewsHour

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After 14 years, Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, is leaving the program in two weeks, the Maynard Institute (www.mije.org.) is reporting.

It's a time of change for the NewsHour, whose founders Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeill are in the process of transferring ownership of the program to WETA-TV in Arlington, Va. The news program made history last month when it named Gwen Ifil and Judy Woodruff co-anchors, the first all-female anchor team on a national newscast. The show has also expanded to a weekend newscast helmed by Hari Sreenivasan.

The 56-year-old Suarez's next move is unclear, though the Maynard Institute article indicated he is weighing academic, print and broadcasting options. Suarez hosted radio's Talk of the Nation before joining the NewsHour.

Fox News Snafu Blames Obama in Fake Muslim Museum Story

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Over at Fox News, where anchors and talk show hosts go from zero to full lather in 30 seconds as part of their daily outrage exercise routine, newsie Anna Kooiman was forced to tweet an apology for reporting a false story Sunday about Fox fave President Barack Obama.

With the nation in the throes of a government shutdown, Kooiman reported about President Obama's alleged offer to pay out of his own pocket to keep a Jackson, Miss. museum of Muslim culture open. That "fact" was included in a news item about the Republican National Committee offering to step up to pay to keep the World War II Memorial open so that veterans and others may visit the site that had been closed because of the government shutdown caused by, well...that's not the point.  Kooiman's story, according to accounts by the Media Matters, Gawker and mediabistro.com TV Newser Web sites, follows:

"The Republican National Committee is offering to pay for it to keep it open so that the veterans from Honor Flight are going to be able to go to see this because who did it honor? It really doesn't seem fair, especially--and we're going to talk a little bit later in the show too about some things that are continuing to be funded. And President Obama has offered to pay out of his own pocket for the museum of Muslim culture out of his own pocket, yet it's the Republican National Committee who's paying for this."

Setting aside for a moment that this spoken passage should be taken out and shot and was purportedly uttered by a professionally trained journalist and not someone whose medications have yet to be adjusted, or that it seems to suggest that President Obama ought to consider personally funding the continued operation of the WWII Memorial, the more immediate problems with the story are:

1. President Obama made no such offer;
2. There is no International Museum of Muslim Cultures in Jackson, Miss.;
3. If such a museum existed, it wouldn't be government-run; 
4. The source of the news item was a satirical Web site, The National Report.

Kooiman issued the following contrite tweet: "Just met w producers--I made a mistake yday after receiving flawed research abt a museum possibly closing. My apologies. Won't happen again."

Not a terribly detailed mea culpa, and makes the error-free staff of "TUOL" wonder if Kooiman was using shortcuts to stay within Twitter's140-character limit or believes yday and abt are actual words. What "TUOL" doesn't doubt is that such a gaffe will happen again because many of the Fox staffers, and certainly disciples of Fox News, want such a news story to be true to the point of willing it true, if it isn't. No red flags were raised by the item, because many Fox viewers believe the President is a practicing Muslim anyway.

"We report, you decide," is the motto of Fox News.  Thanks, don't mind if we do.

Will Bequeathed to Fox News

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Bowtie-wearing, Chicago Cubs-loving, Pulitzer Prize-winning  conservative commentator George Will is jumping ship from ABC News after three decades to join Fox News.

Originally reported by the Daily Caller conservative Web site, as well as by The New York Times and mediabistro.com TV Newser Web site, Will has been a panelist on ABC's Sunday morning gabfest This Week since the program debuted with host David Brinkley in 1981. Reportedly, the 72-year-old Will, who resides in Washington, D.C., tired of travelling to New York City, from where This Week largely is broadcast nowadays.

Will is going to appear on a variety of Fox News shows, including Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace and Special Report with Bret Baier. Will, who was editor of The National Review and has taught at Harvard, every so often takes Republicans to task, harshly criticizing Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, for example. Still, unforgiving liberals recall his ethically questionable help preparing Ronald Reagan for his presidential debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980 and then, as an ABC commentator, declaring Reagan the debate's winner.

Only at Fox News would adding a 72-year-old cranky White guy to the stable of commentators constitute diversity. Hard to top the observation of Politico columnist Roger Simon who said the effect of Will's move from ABC to Fox was to raise the IQ of both organizations.

Did Crossfire Newt Cross CNN Disclosure Rules?

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The quartet of co-hosts of CNN-resurrected Crossfire (see "TUOL" post 6/27/13) have barely had time to settle into full-throated shouting at one another, and already former House Speaker and perpetual presidential candidate Newt Gingrich may be headed for a woodshed spanking, Politico reports.

According to a report by the decidedly not impartial liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, Gingrich seems to have run afoul of standards and practices set by CNN ("Crossfire? No! No!") by allegedly not disclosing political contributions made by him or a PAC in which he is involved to candidates who appear on, or are the subject of discussion on the program. CNN didn't respond to Politico's request for comment.

Mother Jones magazine claims Gingrich's PAC recently has sweetened the respective pots of Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky.), a Crossfire guest, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R.-Tex.), a topic of discussion on the gabfest, without Gingrich acknowledging either contribution on-air.

Much ado about nothing and "gotcha" journalism, "TUOL" unabashedly concedes. It is refreshing, however, to write about a Gingrich gaffe that doesn't involve lunar colonies or isn't serial marriage-related.

BBC Cost-Cutting Initiative Shutters 75 News Posts

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Seventy-five news posts will be shut down in a cost-savings move by the British Broadcasting Corp as part of its euphemistically named Delivering Quality First initiative, whose goal is to realize savings of 700 million pound ($1,120,879,665), The Guardian reported.

The DQF proposal was unveiled in 2011 (See "TUOL" posts 1/24/11, & 10/7/11) and has caused the BBC (Brits Be Cuttin') to butt heads with the National Union of Journalists, in that the plan calls for shrinking BBC News' workforce by 600 by the 2016-17 financial year, according to The Guardian article.  Over the next year, 17 newsgathering slots are expected to be eliminated, including the Moscow Bureau Editor.

BBC & Current Affairs employ more than 8,000, according to the article.

NPR Offering Buyouts; Hopes to Reduce Staff by 10 Percent

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In a closed board meeting yesterday, NPR tackled an anticipated $6.1 million operating deficit for the coming fiscal year by agreeing to offer buyouts in hopes of reducing its workforce by 10 percent.

The Washington Post reported today that 80 to 84 employees would be cut loose from NPR's 840-member staff if the buyouts work as intended. The NPR board also named former SEC attorney Paul G. Haaga, Jr., a member of NPR's board since 2011, its interim CEO, replacing Gary Knell, who is departing in November to take the helm of the National Geographic Society.

The 10 percent staff reduction is one of the largest in NPR's history, according to the Post article.  The astute "TUOL" staff suspected something was amiss when it noticed NPR's giveaway tote bags seemed smaller.

Perhaps the company can hit up its favorite philanthropist, Hugh R. Lisnerz, for some money.

Free Rein for Calif. Pols?: ABC Flips the Swith on Sacramento Bureau

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Sacramento Bureau Chief Nannette Miranda and KGO-TV political reporter Mark Matthews were pink-slipped this week as ABC shuttered its bureau in the State Capitol, according to the mediabistro.com TV Spy blog.

Miranda and Matthews had worked for ABC affiliate KGO-TV since 2003, with the former providing regional coverage of doings at the Sacramento Capitol for ABC affiliate stations in Fresno, Los Angeles and San Francisco, while Matthews was the last political reporter standing in the San Francisco Bay Area market, TV Spy reported.

Cost savings and public indifference may be the blame for the decrease in coverage of state politicos. General assignment reporters and analysts will attempt to cover political issues as they arise.

Fox News Axes Corp Comm. Exec VP; 'Financial Irregulariies' Alleged

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Brian Lewis, who has been at Roger Ailes' side since cable powerhouse Fox News Channel's inception 17 years ago, was terminated for cause July 25 and escorted from the premises where he most recently served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications, according to an account by The Hollywood Reporter.

The network issued a statement that Lewis was terminated for alleged breach of his employment contract and over purported issues involving "financial irregularities."  Lewis kept a watchful eye over public relations matters involving Fox News, Fox Business Network, 20th Television and Fox Television Stations, according to the THR article.

Lewis fostered a close relationship with Ailes and was considered his (far?) right-hand man. He joined Fox in 1996 as vice president of public relations and most recently, acted as a liason to author Zev Chafets, who recently completed a flattering biography of Ailes, Roger Ailes: Off Camera.