Al Sharpton bombs on MSNBC

Al Sharpton bombs on MSNBC.  But of course, we knew he would.  And so did MSNBC/NBC/Comcast.    All Comcast promised, The Cable Game suspects, was a payoff to Sharpton in terms of a quid pro quo show.  But Comcast never said how long the show would last! 

Meanwhile, writing in the New York Times, Alessandra Stanley rips into the Sharpton show, and MSNBC in general.  

Sorry Al.  It looks like it's back to the streets for you.   And as for MSNBC, well, it has made its bet on President Obama. How's that working out?   Note to Phil Griffin: If people want to see White House propaganda, they will watch Jay Carney.  

Gawker story on Bill O'Reilly gets no pick up

Gawker's attempted takeout of Bill O"Reilly got no pickup to speak of--just two dozen or so stories, most rewrites and rehashes, as we can see from Google News.   Sorry, Gawker!   Next time, try having some proof for your stories, not just an unnamed "source."

JP

Dick Morris enters The Cable Game with his own "network"

Dick Morris starts his own channel, in effect.  He calls it "TV lunch."

Why does Jonathan Martin of Politico hate Fox News so much?

Why does Jonathan Martin of Politico hate Fox News so much?   The Cable Gamer can't answer that question, but as MediaBistro's Betsy Rothstein observes, the phobia is obviously there.    Some will speculate that Martin has some personal grudge against Fox--perhaps he was passed over for a contributor gig or something.  Or maybe it's something more personal--or psychological.  

Or maybe, as TCG has long suggested, Fox-bashing by a Politico employee is part of the long-term mating dance between Politico and MSNBC--and above MSNBC, NBC and Comcast.  So in that sense, Martin is just a tool in the larger game of corporate merger.  

CNN makes a big move in The Tablet Game

CNN has purchased Zite, a tablet app that will help users personalize their media experience.  The tablet--not just the iPad, but the whole market segment--is the big prize in new/newer media.  Content is king, of course, but user-friendliness and elegance matters, too.

Gawker and The Case of the Missing Detective

So Gawker dropped its long-rumored "bombshell" story, accusing Bill O'Reilly of using power to sic the Nassau County Police Department on an alleged romantic interest of his wife.   The Huffington Post, of course, loved it, as did Michael Wolff's parasite-site, Newser. 

Yet better journalists saw through the story for what it was--an anonymously sourced/unsourced hit job.  Mediaite's Colby Hall mostly dismissed the story, noting Fox's denial, “Gawker has been lying about Fox News for several years and we are not going to dignify this with any further comment."  And also, the Nassau police deny it.   For his part, Hall observed that the whole Gawker story was all "anonymously sourced," and adding, "While this post raises some interesting questions, the story is centered on Bill O’Reilly’s failing marriage, which is a remarkably personal attack for an – at-best – inconsistently sourced report, that feels to this media critic as a a dressed-up excuse to personally attack O’Reilly."  

But the Washington Post's Erik Wemple had perhaps the best take, observing that the whole story rose and fell on an anonymous detective.  As Wemple observed, “The order was to investigate this detective not for any misdeeds but to see if they could get anything on him. Delargy also told him to tell the detective to back off.”   Wemple cleverly added those bolds in the preceding text, to emphasize, he said, the "centrality" of the anonymous--or should we say, missing--detective.  As Wemple puts it, "It’s that detective who can provide details on every dimension of the story; or, alternatively, tell Cook to mind his own business."  So which is it?  We don't know for sure, although since it's Gawker, we can suspect the worst. 

We can call the Gawker story, "The Case of the Missing Detective."   That is, again, either missing, or completely non-existent.   

Arianna Huffington dubbed "pathetic" by one of her new employees

Technorati's Pace Lattin reports that AOL is now trying to sell itself to someone, because its acquisition of Huffington Post has been a fiasco. And the piece includes choice words for Arianna Huffington from one of her new subordinates, Michael Arrington, the brilliant founding editor of TechCrunch:


To make things worse, TechCrunch, the mainstay of the online media and technology industry, has shrunk since its purchase by AOL from over 2M monthly visitors to less than 1M  Michael Arrington has publically expressed displeasure with having to work for Huffington, and even gone as far to criticize AOL as “pathetic.”

There you have it: "pathetic." Now, who wants to buy AOL/Huffpo? 

Robert Reich reveals his totalitarian colors--blames everything on Fox News and the Wall Street Journal

Robert Reich is short--under 5'.  But in his mind, as we can see from this tweet, he is a Big Brother wannabe.  Not the nice-guy kind, but the totalitarian kind.

"Pretty sure #irene has now been on CNN longer than Parker/Spitzer was"

Funny tweet from pourmecoffee.

Welcome, Apple, to The Cable Game

Gizmodo riffs on a Wall Street Journal story speculating that maybe Apple will do to cable TV what it did to music--that is, completely disrupt the industry business model, and displace all the big players.  Could it happen?   It did, indeed, happen to music because of Steve Jobs.  Now the question is whether or not his successor, Tim Cook, can pull off a similar disruption.

Obama snuggles up to MSNBC parent company Comcast, and MSNBC/Comcast snuggle up to Obama

Politico's Abby Philip reports that Barack Obama is using his time in Martha's Vineyard well--if "well" is defined as cultivating the well to do.  Including Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, pictured above.    It seems that Comcast employees have given the Obama Victory Fund some $200,000.

In addition, of course, Comcast has given Obama all of MSNBC, including, most recently, Al Sharpton. 

MSNBC Goes Gangsta with Al Sharpton

So MSNBC is now Thug TV.  Yes, as the LA Times' Greg Braxton notes, there are plenty of questions about Sharpton's quid pro quo role with Comcast.   That is, did Comcast pay off Sharpton with an MSNBC show, in return for Sharpton's help getting the merger through the regulators at the FCC?    Those are good questions, much deserving of explanation.

But an even better question is why Sharpton is not an outcast, a pariah, for his history of thuggery.   Thankfully, Martin Krossel, at the FrumForum, provides some useful historical context as to just what an ogre Sharpton is, going back to his days as a street hustler and rabble rouser.

MSNBC Goes Gangsta with Al Sharpton

So MSNBC is now Thug TV.  Yes, as the LA Times' Greg Braxton notes, there are plenty of questions about Sharpton's quid pro quo role with Comcast.   That is, did Comcast pay off Sharpton with an MSNBC show, in return for Sharpton's help getting the merger through the regulators at the FCC?    Those are good questions, but an even better question is why Sharpton is not an outcast, a pariah, for his history of thuggery.   Thankfully, Martin Krossel, at the FrumForum, provides some useful historical context as to just what an ogre Sharpton is.

Welcome to The Cable Game, Google!

The Atlantic's Adam Clark Estes details Google's emerging role as a major player in Cable Gaming.

The Cable Gamer hearts Fox News Insider

The Cable Gamer can't keep up with all of Fox News, but fortunately, we have Fox News Insider to help us catch up on what me missed, including this terrific confrontation between Karl Rove and Bill Burton.    You'll never miss a thing on FNC with FNI. 

"Kirsten Powers: Maybe Ed Schultz is the racist"

Ed Morrissey nails that thuggish dope--and maybe racist--Ed Schultz.

Jon Stewart blasts MSNBC's Ed Schultz for being, well, both a thug and a dummy

Jon Stewart, may be a liberal, but he's an honest liberal.  And so when he sees a dishonest dope such as MSNBC's Ed Schultz, he calls him on it--and makes it funny as well.  

The Cable Gamer has no sense of humor, but she would say, "Shame on you, Ed Schultz," if she thought it would do any good.  But of course, shame is lost on Schultz.

Hey CNN's Don Lemon! If you want different answers from candidates, try different questions!

CNN's Don Lemon thinks that he is on to something big.  What's that?   He is attacking politicians--especially Republican politicians, such as Michele Bachmann--for answering questions the same way.  That is, for being "on message," as they say.  It bothers Lemon that pols are saying the same thing in response to the same question.

One could be begin by wondering, "Who elected Lemon to tell politicians what to say? Who made him judge and jury?"  But before that, we should ask, "If reporters really want fresh and different answers from politicians, why do they ask the same stale questions?"  Hey journos: fix your own dull glass house before throwing stones!

So now we will have two MSNBCs: MSNBC and also Current. How long before CNN gets the same idea?

Ex-CNN DC bureau chief David Bohrman continues to reveal what he has in mind for Current TV--the dopey radical-chic vanity network that zillionaire Joel Hyatt created to humor his friend, Al Gore.   And the answer, of course, is that Bohrman wants to turn Current into left-wing propaganda.  You know, sort of like MSNBC.  And so how long will it be before CNN tries the same thing> 

Joe Scarborough trashes Michele Bachmann--he is obviously looking for a raise at MSNBC

Glenn Beck's The Blaze has the details of Joe Scarborough's gratuitous--which is not the same as unplanned--rant against Michele Bachmann.

National Review's Jonah Goldberg: Fox "has subjected the GOP contenders to tougher, rougher, questions than any debate I can remember."

Jonah Goldberg,writing for National Review Online, praised Fox News for the way it handled the Iowa GOP debate last night:

Not only has Fox News--the supposed mouthpiece of the GOP--put on a far, far, far better debate than CNN did (or MSNBC could),  it has subjected the GOP contenders to tougher, rougher, questions than any debate I can remember. In fact, I don’t think Obama ever received this kind of grilling as a candidate or as president.

Most notably, last night we saw a complete absence of the sort of dopey questions that disfigured the CNN debate in New Hampshire two months ago--you know, about pizza crust and iPod music.  So praise for Fox's Bret Baier and his team. 

And yes, on the CNN downside, we are looking at you, John King.  You were so eager to make yourself part of the debate that you made a fool of yourself. 

Ames, Iowa debate "winners and losers" include Fox News anchors

Here's how the Washington Post's Chris Cilizza called the debate in his report for the Washington Post tonight. Among the winners were the Fox News team:


* Fox moderators: Yes, they — well, Chris Wallace — became part of the debate, which is usually not a good thing. But, Wallace and Bret Baier in particular were willing to pose questions that forced candidates to address their major weakenesses in the race and — perish the thought! — occasionally divert from their talking points. Yes, debates are about the candidates. But, when the candidates are doing everything they can avoid answering any/every question, you need moderators willing to mix it up. And the Fox folks were.

Politico attacks Fox--no news here, as it seeks to suck up to MSNBC.

Politico, ever eager to polish MSNBC's apple, is now playing TV critic.  The Cable Gamer believes that Politico is seeking to be merged/bought by MSNBC/NBCU/Comcast, and so it seeks every opportunity to whack Fox and suck up to to MSNBC.

Obviously MSNBC is rubbing off on Joe Scarborough--remember when he was a Republican?

Once upon a time, Joe Scarborough was a conservative Republican Congressman from Florida.   Then he left Congress under a cloud, and ultimately landed a job working at MSNBC.  And that job turned into a low-rated but buzzy AM show, "Morning Joe."  From that perch, Joe every now and then likes to say something halfway conservative, just for old time's sake, but for the most part, he has become just another orthodox liberal.  A case in point is an op-ed he published today in Politico, in which he manages to recite every platitude about income inequality that wasn't first used by Bill Moyers or Robert Reich.   Typical line: "This is not John Wayne’s America. This is Gordon Gekko’s America."  The presumption here, of course, is that the big issue facing America is income inequality.  And of course, in the Moyer, Reich--and now Scarborough--playbook that means a tax increase. 

Well, Joe, maybe some theoretical notion of income inequality is what The New York Times worries about--and the New Yorker, too!--but ordinary Americans are worried about something much more practical: jobs, jobs, jobs.  They don't care how much the fictional Gekko makes, they want to know why they are making less, and why their little 401-K is worth less.   And they know that a tax increase won't help--a tax increase would, in fact, hurt. 

Of course, liberals can't deal with those sorts of concerns, because that would go right to the heart of the incompetence of Barack Obama.  So instead, liberals--now joined by Scarborough--prefer not to confront Obama's failure and so instead choose to bray about side issues.  The truth is that the American Dream does hang in the balance, but not because of inequality, but because of the Obama recession.   

But Joe doesn't acknowledge any of that.   That's the sign that you are really in the tank for the left--you ignore the big bad problem, and focus on some little tiny side issue, just to show that you are willing to subvert the truth to please your liberal masters.  And, of course to fit at ever-more lefty MSNBC.

And, of course, Politico, looking to get purchased by MSNBC/NBC, is happy to play along with this trendy-left game, to further the corporate courtship.  

Nice going Joe: You are now moving toward oneness with Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, and all the rest.  Too bad, after all your trying, they still won't give you a primetime show. 

Hey Tim Armstrong! How's that Arianna-AOL thing working out for ya?

Reuters has the gruesome financial details, in a story headlined, "AOL Shares Plunge on Surprise Quarterly Loss,"

So now we know more about CNN--David Borhman, ex-CNN-er, joins Al Gore and Keith Olbermann's Current TV

In case you needed a reminder that CNN is liberal, consider the fact that David Borhman, the ex-CNN DC bureau chief, has now gone to work for Keith Olbermann and Al Gore at Current TV.  And the press release  quotes Bohrman saying:

“I have been watching what Al [Gore] and Joel [Hyatt] and Keith [Olbermann] have been doing at Current, and I believe that Current has a real opportunity to be a truly vital medium for a new breed of savvy, intelligent viewers,” Bohrman says in a release. “I’m extremely energized and inspired by this opportunity to work with them to establish Current as a significant and influential voice in the news and political commentary arena.”

And then Gore himself says of the new hire, "David Bohrman passionately shares our vision."  And there you have it. 

Top DC lawyer to IRS: Media Matters does not deserve tax-exempt status

Politico's Burgess Everett reports that Washington superlawyer C. Boyden Gray has formally petitioned the IRS to yank the tax-exempt status of David Brock's political hit-job operation, Media Matters.

"The key question for Morgan now, seven years after he was sacked as editor of the Daily Mirror, is whether he can survive the media storm currently raging on both sides of the Atlantic."

Writing in the Guardian (UK), James Robinson observes that CNN host Piers Morgan is in a fair amount of trouble: 

The key question for Morgan now, seven years after he was sacked as editor of the Daily Mirror, is whether he can survive the media storm currently raging on both sides of the Atlantic.

And then Robinson continues, noting that not only is Morgan haunted by the hacking allegations, but also by the reality that his CNN show is not getting big ratings or buzz.  Indeed, that his CNN gig seems to be subordinate to his other American gig, "America's Got Talent."  Ouch!  Here's more from Robinson's piece: 

In normal circumstances a story about the underhand, and sometimes illegal, practices of British tabloids might be expected to blow over quickly, particularly in America.

But the controversy over phone hacking at the News of the World, and the crisis it prompted at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, dominated the headlines for weeks in the US, where Morgan is a household name.

His weekly CNN show is watched by millions and he replaced his friend Simon Cowell as a judge on America's Got Talent, the show which transformed him from a little-known Brit into a star.

If there is an appetite in America for stories about his tabloid past, it is partly because he has created one by pursuing a campaign of relentless self-promotion. CNN has spent heavily marketing Morgan as a replacement for Larry King and it is unlikely to drop him on the basis of allegations about his conduct at the Mirror or, before that, at the News of the World, where he became the youngest ever editor at the age of 28 in 1994.

All the signals emanating from CNN's corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, are that his job is safe. A CNN source who is close to Piers said last night: "The show is fine. Everyone's really happy with it. The number is up year to date from where Larry [King] was. The show is only six months old and it gets pick up from the press every single day".

A CNN spokesperson last night: "We continue to be supportive of his programme." CNN also pointed out that audiences for Piers Morgan Tonight are up 10% compared to what they were when the show was hosted by Larry King.

But senior media industry insiders in New York, from where Morgan's show is broadcast, say his star is no longer rising.

"The executive who hired him, CNN president Jon Klein, was fired right after [Morgan joined]," claims one source,

That is significant because Klein, who left in September last year, months after Morgan agreed a deal with the cable news channel, had championed him.

The ratings for his CNN show are slightly better than those Larry King enjoyed – up about 12% – but significantly lower than when Morgan started.

The same source says insiders at CNN are also irritated by the number of shows that are pre-recorded due to Morgan's commitments to America's Got Talent, which is filmed in LA but has also gone on the road across the country. "He's phoning in the show," he said.

Sources close to Morgan deny this, and say interviews with big stars including Beyoncé are recorded so they can be trailed weeks before they are aired. However, the buzz that surrounded Morgan's arrival has faded.

"The other thing to bear in mind is that no one talks in the media about Piers's show," the insider said.

"Some magazine and newspaper editors the other night [said] it just isn't on their radar screen at all any more. It doesn't make or break news."

Piers Morgan in more hot water. Does CNN have an ethics code? If so, is anyone trying to abide by it? Is anyone at CNN curious as to what actually happened?

The Cable Gamer has no idea what actually happened in the UK a few years back, in the ever-widening saga of Hackgate, which threatens to blemish, or worse, many famous figures. As picked up by TVNewser's Alex Weprin, the BBC is reporting Heather Mills said that Piers Morgan admitted to being privy to her phone calls ten years ago, while Morgan denies it.  

OK, OK, but The Cable Gamer wants to know if there's an ethics code, and what, if anything, CNN is doing to make sure that all of its employees abide by that code.  Nobody's accusing Morgan of hacking anybody since he came to CNN, but surely that ethics code requires CNN employees to tell the truth about past activities, especially past journalistic activities.

MSNBC's Phil Griffin, squirming on the Al Sharpton question

Does MSNBC have a deal with Al Sharpton or not?   MSNBC chief Phil Griffin can't say, according to the Washington Post.  The only thing that Griffin is sure of is that his bosses at Comcast--the bosses whom Sharpton helped, big time, as they struggled to get their acquisition of NBC-Universal through the FCC watchdogs--have nothing to do with his decision about Sharpton.

Got that?  Any questions?   Repeat after me: The Comcastians, who sign Griffin's paycheck, have nothing to do with his decisions.  That's the way the corporate world works, right?  Right.

MSNBC has a "monopoly" on smart people--did Phil Griffin really say that?

Apparently MSNBC chief Phil Griffin really did say just that--that MSNBC has a "monopoly" on smart people.

Wow.  Such arrogance.

It's almost as if Keith Olbermann never left.  I know what you're saying: "Keith who?"

Legal action against Piers Morgan?

The London Telegraph's Tim Walker reports that Nancy Dell'Olio, a well-known British lawyer and socialite, is considering taking legal action against CNN host Piers Morgan.   It seems that Dell'Olio was having an affair with famous English soccer coach Sven Goran Eriksson a few years ago, and during that time, The Mirror, a British tabloid then edited by Morgan, seemed to know all about what she was up to--as in, she would call Eriksson on her phone, arrange to meet at a restaurant, and then there would be a Mirror photographer.   As Dell'Olio told the police--and now the Telegraph--"something fishy was going on." 

But let the Brit newspaper tell the tale:

"I have been in touch with the police and we are trying to find out if there is evidence that the Mirror did hack into my phone," Miss Dell'Olio, herself a lawyer, says. Morgan has denied that he was ever involved in phone-hacking, but Dell'Olio adds: "Something fishy was going on. I would, for instance, leave a message for Sven suggesting dinner – and then, when I arrived at the restaurant, I'd find a Mirror photographer waiting."

Her suspicions have been fuelled by a jocular reference that was attributed to Morgan in a newspaper serialisation of his book, God Bless America. "Nancy... left a voicemail message for me. 'Piers, darling, I am in Rome and thinking of you. I hope you have recovered from our night together. Let's get together again soon.'

"Given that it was the Daily Mirror, under my editorship, which exposed Sven's fling with Ulrika Jonsson after learning of a similar message left by the then England manager on her phone, I can only hope and pray that the gutter press (ha ha) aren't hacking into my mobile now."

Nancy adds: "I know Piers socially – I was at [his wife] Celia's book launch – so it's all a bit awkward."