CNN Wins Ratings; Telemundo, Univision Proud of Coverage
Mine Story Came Not a Moment Too Soon for CNN
CNN, NABJ Leaders Hold “Frank Conversation” in Atlanta
Morehouse President “Insulted” by Vibe Piece on Cross-Dressers
Public Radio Stations Consider Boosting Reporting Staffs
Michele Norris Touts Book on All 4 Shows Produced by NPR
BET Shows Score as Tyler Perry Takes the Week Off
CNN Wins Ratings; Telemundo, Univision Proud of Coverage
“More than 10 million people were watching CNN, Fox News and MSNBC as the first of 33 miners was rescued in Chile on Tuesday night, the beginning of the end of a two-month ordeal for the men trapped underground,” Brian Stelter wrote Wednesday for the New York Times.
Moreover, John D. Sutter of CNN reported, “Between 4 and 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, online news traffic grew to more than 4 million page views per minute, making the miners’ rescue the fifth most-read-about online event since Akamai’s Net Usage Index for News debuted in 2005.
Worldwide, “viewers were transfixed by the Chilean state video feed: a you-are-there view from a camera mounted on top of the rescue capsule that carried the miners to the surface. It showed the brilliant white light at the end of the tunnel getting bigger and bigger and finally exploding like a starburst as each man ascended,” the Associated Press reported.
The Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo both said they gave priority to the story, with the NBC Universal-owned Telemundo boasting, “Telemundo is the only Spanish-Language network in the U.S. to have broadcast full-screen minute by minute development of this captivating news story.” In a Wednesday afternoon news release, it claimed more than 14 hours of uninterrupted coverage.
Michael Snyder, a correspondent for Chile’s Santiago Times, told Vanity Fair, “our phones have been ringing off the hook, it’s constant. BBC alone has 30 people on the ground. The government had to send in bulldozers to plow parking lots into the mountain for more news media. There are something like 1,300 journalists at the mine alone.”
“It is impossible to tell how many people watched the live coverage around the world. Channels like the BBC and Al Jazeera English also carried the rescues live, but they are not rated in the same way as the channels based in the United States.
“In the United States, cable news ratings surged. As usual during breaking news, the normally third-place CNN rose to first place during the first rescue, with 5 million viewers from 11 to 11:15. Fox News Channel averaged 4.3 million viewers, and MSNBC averaged 1.3 million.
“Normally, just about 2 million people total are watching the three channels at that hour. . . .
“Among the broadcast networks, only ABC covered the miners’ rescue for an extended period of time on Tuesday night. The half-hour news program ‘Nightline’ was extended to one hour, and overnight ratings indicated that 5 million viewers were watching, topping the late-night comedy shows on NBC and CBS.”
[On Thursday, CBS said “Early Show” co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez conducted a bilingual interview with José Sanchez (video), who was outside the mine. Sanchez talked to Rodriguez about his three family members who were trapped inside of the mine: Victor Segovia, Esteban Rojas, and Pablo Rojas.]
Univision, dubbing itself one of the top five networks in the country regardless of language, said in a statement to Journal-isms on Wednesday:
- “Last night our network news (‘Noticiero Univision’) aired a three-hour live special from coast-to-coast, which started at 6:30, until 9:30 pm ET
- “We had dual screens throughout our scheduled programming and intercepted with live cut-aways at key moments until about midnight.
- “At about midnight resumed full, live coast-to-coast coverage from Chile and have continued through today.
- “Our online efforts mirror our broadcast efforts and . . . [continue] to include live streaming and continuous coverage on www.univisionnoticias.com.”
Telemundo said: “José Díaz-Balart, Vanessa Hauc, Carmen Dominicci and correspondent Angie Sandoval from Copiapo, Chile, have been continuously reporting, covering every detail of the rescue from its beginning. Live at the scene from the moment the first miner, Florencio Avalos, was rescued, correspondent Sandoval was there to show Telemundo audiences the emotional moment experienced by the Chilean community.
“Morning show ‘Levantate’ continued coverage, dedicating its time to offer minute by minute live reports from the scene reported by host Idaly Ferro. Through its digital platforms and social media outlets, Telemundo has achieved 360° coverage . . .”
- Chris Ariens, TVNewser: News Networks Begin Wall-to-Wall Coverage of Mine Rescue Operation
- Michael Calderone, Yahoo: Mine rescue turns into worldwide media spectacle
- Matthew Flamm, Crain’s New York Business: NY publishers dig into miners’ story
- Marisa Guthrie, Broadcasting & Cable: Ultimate Reality TV: Chilean Miner Rescue
- Tim Huber and Gregory Katz, Associated Press: Millions worldwide watch Chilean mine drama unfold
- Cathal Kelly, Toronto Star: On the eve of rescue, trapped miners get media training
- Kevin Roderick, LAObserved: Live streaming from Chile (by BBC)
- Alessandra Stanley, New York Times: The Rescue on TV: Elation and Elvis
- Brian Stelter, New York Times: In Coverage of Mine Rescue, Watching, Waiting and Counting
- Alex Weprin, TVNewser: CNN Brings Props to the Chilean Miner Rescue Party
Mine Story Came Not a Moment Too Soon for CNN
“This whole reinvention thing hasn’t started well for CNN,” Scott Collins wrote on Tuesday for the Los Angeles Times.
“The network on Monday dipped to its worst nightly prime-time average in more than 10 years. An average of 327,000 total viewers tuned in from 8 to 11 p.m., according to the Nielsen Co. That’s the lowest since May 8, 2000 (326,000).
“Larry King, in his final weeks as host in the 9 p.m. slot, delivered just 196,000 viewers for an interview with Afghanistan leader Hamid Karzai — the program’s lowest total in more than 10 years.
“Amid another rejiggering aimed at fixing viewership problems, CNN’s lineup has also been hurt by the premiere last week of ‘Parker Spitzer,’ hosted by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and columnist Kathleen Parker, which has generated some of CNN’s worst ratings in years.
“As a result, CNN is left prowling for news that can boost numbers.”
CNN, NABJ Leaders Hold “Frank Conversation” in Atlanta
In the wake of renewed criticism of the lack of diversity among the hosts of prime-time cable television news and a change in leadership at CNN/U.S., leaders of the National Association of Black Journalists and the new top team at CNN met Monday in CNN’s home city of Atlanta.
Asked what took place and whether anything was resolved, NABJ was terse and CNN was vague.
NABJ President Kathy Y. Times, who attended the meeting with Bob Butler, vice president for broadcast, told Journal-isms, “The meeting went well. We had a frank conversation with Jim Walton and the new leadership of HLN and CNN.” Walton is the president of CNN Worldwide.
A CNN spokeswoman said, “We were pleased to meet with NABJ leadership in Atlanta. We always welcome the opportunity to meet with leaders from minority journalism organizations. We have been strong supporters and consider the organizations to be valuable resources and welcome any ideas they may have about how to further our diversity efforts.”
In June, NABJ criticized CNN and other cable news networks for their failure to include journalists of color as candidates in replacing CNN anchors such as Lou Dobbs, Campbell Brown and Larry King. But NABJ gave CNN Worldwide its Best Practices award in 2007, citing the news organization for its commitment to diversity both on and off air, and this year CNN’s Soledad O’Brien was NABJ’s Journalist of the Year.
Jonathan Klein was fired suddenly on Sept. 24 as president of CNN/U.S., replaced by Ken Jautz, who led CNN’s Headline News (HLN).
A week later, CNN announced that anchor Rick Sanchez “is no longer with the company” after the Cuban-American anchor gave a radio interview in which he noted the lack of journalists of color in prime-time cable anchor chairs and, in the process, called attention to the number of Jews in key positions in a way that some journalists reported was offensive.
Sanchez was subbing in the 8 p.m. slot that was vacated by Campbell Brown and was filled Monday by the new team of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker.
“If you look right now in our media, in prime time, there’s not a single Hispanic, not a single African American,” Sanchez said Friday in explaining his anger during the radio interview.
Morehouse President “Insulted” by Piece on Cross-Dressers
“The title of the article speaks volumes about a perspective that is very narrow and one that is, in all likelihood, offensive to our students whether gay or straight,” Robert Franklin wrote to alumni on Saturday.
“As president of this institution, as a Morehouse graduate and as a father, I am insulted by what is to be published. Addressing our young men as ‘girls’ is deeply disturbing to me, no matter what the remainder of the article may say. Morehouse has for 140 years developed men — men who are equipped to live and contribute to an increasingly diverse, global and complex world.”
The news peg for the piece was a dress code announced a year and a half ago. “The dress code stated that students, referred to as ‘Renaissance Men,’ were not allowed to wear caps, do-rags, sunglasses or sagging pants on the Morehouse campus or at college-sponsored events. But what raised most eyebrows was the rule about women’s clothing: no wearing of dresses, tops, tunics, purses or pumps,” Aliya S. King wrote.
The teaser summarized: “Within the openly gay community at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, there’s a subgroup: Gender benders who rock makeup, Marc Jacobs tote bags, sky-high heels and Beyonce-style hair weaves. Can a man of Morehouse be gay? Absolutely. But can he be a woman? Meet the Plastics.”
The Vibe website devoted a page to the piece and to the reaction.
“Wow! An entire story about 2 CURRENT STUDENTS. REALLY? REALLY!?!? Give me a break. When will your writers be back on campus to write a story about the remaining 2998+ students?” wrote “Proud Morehouse Parent.”
Audrey Belle wrote, “Instead of talking about the strives the gay community at Morehouse is making (in conjunction with Spelman, they held the first drag show on an HBCU campus and it was a compete success),” referring to historically black colleges and universities, “you are focusing on a few of its members that does not show at all the entire gay community at Morehouse.”
On TheLoop21.com, Stephanie Dunn, who teaches at Morehouse, wrote, “A story beginning with the questions, ‘Can a Morehouse Man Be Gay?’ and ‘But Can He Be A Woman?’ proves that Morehouse and American culture needs smarter conversation about gender and sexuality.”
Chloe Hilliard, managing editor of vibe.com, wrote online to the detractors, “What I disagree with the most is the notion that all stories written (especially about black subjects) need to be positive and pretty. When a school creates a ‘dress code’ that becomes a headline across the country and on the web it is our RIGHT and DUTY as a journalistically sound publication to investigate it. If someone wanted to write about how great Morehouse is (which I’m not doubting it is) they have had the freedom to do so…but haven’t. News is news. If everyone agreed on the subject it wouldn’t be NEWS.”
- Jason Fell, Folio: New Vibe Finding its Rhythm
- R. L’Heureux Lewis, theGrio.com: Who’s afraid of gender bending Morehouse men?
Public Radio Stations Consider Boosting Reporting Staffs
“Four leading public radio stations have [been] meeting frequently, forming an ad hoc ‘alliance for public media,’ and they’ve got big plans,” according to Ken Doctor, writing Tuesday on the Newsonomics website.
“The largest notion: Expand regional ‘public media’ news operations to 100 reporters and editors per market in four to six markets — and soon. That’s ‘public radio’ grown into ‘public media,’ meaning that these news operations would be digital-first, text-heavy and video-ready, while porting over the audio from radio. In other words, not re-purposed ‘radio’ news, but the kind of standalone, multi-platform news operations we’re starting to see, as with TBD in Washington, D.C.
“The initial four stations involved in the alliance planning are WNYC in New York, WBEZ in Chicago, KPCC in Los Angeles and Minnesota Public Radio, in the Twin Cities, says Bill Kling, current (and now retiring, ‘MPR’s Bill Kling Steps Down — and Up — From Public Radio’) president and CEO of the American Public Media Group (APMG), the parent of the L.A. and Twin Cities stations, as well as a major syndicator of public radio programming.
“One hundred ‘public media’ reporters and editors in a market is a huge increase. . . .”
Michele Norris Touts Book on All 4 Shows Produced by NPR
“All Things Considered host Michele Norris has done what no other author has done on NPR: scored a ‘fourfecta’ with her new book,” Alicia Shepard, ombudsman for NPR, wrote on Tuesday.
“Norris has been able to promote her memoir on each of the four shows that NPR produces: Morning Edition (ME), All Things Considered (ATC), Talk of the Nation (TOTN) and Tell Me More (TMM). They are the only news shows where NPR is solely responsible for the editorial content.
“ME host Steve Inskeep spoke with her for 8 minutes on Sept. 20. Later that day, Norris did a 4-minute essay for her show, ATC. On Sept. 27, TOTN interviewed Norris for 30 minutes. Three days later, TMM spoke with Norris for 16 minutes. After spending a day searching, NPR librarians could not find any other author who appeared on all four programs. . . .
“Norris’ book grew out of an NPR reporting project in York, PA that she and Inskeep did on race prior to the November 2008 presidential election.
“Norris said she felt lucky to share her journey with listeners, but that the criticism is unwarranted. ‘I was invited four times and I said yes four times,’ she said. ‘In some cases I did NPR shows in lieu of other national shows because I felt a strong loyalty to NPR.’ . . .
“This issue of airtime comes up regularly as NPR staffers write books. Most of the time it’s in check, says Ellen Weiss, senior vice president for news.
” ‘While Michele’s appearances were all of great value to the audience,’ said Weiss, ‘normally we do a better job of internal communications in order to avoid so much overlap on guest appearances.’ “
BET Shows Score as Tyler Perry Takes the Week Off
Last week, this column noted the poor showing of Black Entertainment Television and TV One on the week’s top 25 shows among African American cable television viewers.
On Tuesday, the Nielsen Co. survey for Oct. 4-10 listed five BET shows in the top 25.
They were the 10th anniversary of “106 & Park” (Oct. 5) at No. 3, the Oct. 7 edition of the same program at No. 7, and the “BET Movie of the Week” at Nos. 11, 21 and 22.
The list is usually dominated by Tyler Perry sitcoms on Turner Broadcasting System, but TBS’ Wednesday sitcom lineup was pre-empted by baseball, a TBS spokeswoman said. This week, TBS did not even make the top 25.
Rounding out the top 10 cable shows among African Americans were: 1. NFL Regular Season, ESPN; 2. “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” Bravo; “WWE Entertainment,” USA Network, Nos. 4 and 5; 6. “Bad Girls Club,” Oxygen Media; 8. “Fantasia for Real 2,” VH1; 9. “La Las Full Court Wedding,” VH1; 10. “Jersey Shore 2,” MTV.
The top 10 shows on broadcast television among African Americans were: 1. “NBC Sunday Night Football,” NBC; 2. “Dancing with the Stars,” ABC; 3. “60 Minutes,” CBS; 4. “Sunday Night NFL, Pre-Kick,” NBC; 5. “Law and Order: SVU,” NBC; 6. “Law and Order: LA,” NBC; 7. “Dancing With the Stars Results,” ABC; 8. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS; 9. “The Good Wife,” CBS; 10. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC.
Short Takes
- “After more than a decade as a journalist, I still harbor the idealistic hope that the media can do some good in the world. But that belief was challenged as never before in Pakistan during the worst disaster I have covered in terms of the number of people affected: 20 million,” Raul Gallego, an Associated Press video journalist based in Bangkok, wrote for the AP on Tuesday. He traveled to Pakistan to help cover the country’s catastrophic floods. “This time, I felt that neither I nor my camera could help.”
- Ebony magazine Wednesday unveiled its iPad edition to coincide with the magazine’s 65th anniversary. “The move signals EBONY’s embrace of new media and the company’s work to expand its audience while providing its core readers broader access to inspiring, thought-provoking and entertaining content. Set at $3.99, the new app is the same price as the magazine and available at the iTunes store,” the magazine announced.
- Cuban journalist Alfredo Felipe Fuentes was freed from prison on Friday and exiled to Spain as part of a July agreement between the Havana government and the Catholic Church. “Seventeen journalists jailed in the 2003 Black Spring crackdown have now been freed and exiled as part of the agreement,” the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday.
- “Denise James hasn’t been seen on Action News since January, when she went out on leave with a shoulder injury,” Michael Klein wrote Tuesday for the Philadelphia Inquirer. “She now says she is officially gone after 23 years at the ABC station, because her position was eliminated. She is teaching broadcast-news writing at Temple University and ‘living life.’ ” The Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists had planned to celebrate her career on Tuesday.
- “Hamas security forces raided and shut down the headquarters of the Palestinian Journalists Union in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the head of the organisation said,” Agence France-Presse reported. “The union is dominated by the secular Fatah movement, which Hamas drove out of Gaza when it seized power in June 2007.”
- “National journalism groups have weighed in at the Court of Appeals in a high-profile dispute over whether the Maryland State Police should turn over to the Maryland NAACP files showing how the agency handled five years’ worth of complaints of racial profiling in traffic stops,” Andrea F. Siegel reported for the Baltimore Sun on Tuesday. “The NAACP’s effort to see the internal police documents has drawn a brief from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by the Society of Professional Journalists. The national NAACP had also filed a brief in support of the state NAACP.”
- In Los Angeles, “Pacifica station KPFK is making plans to put up a full-time Spanish language stream of programming on the web that will move onto the AM radio dial,” Kevin Roderick reported for LAObserved. Program director Alan Minsky told the staff, “By serving the Spanish language community with mission driven Pacifica programming, the majority population of the Southern California working class will have a media outlet in their corner for the first time in recent history.”
- Lilia Luciano, co-host of “Escándalo TV” and “Escándalo
- “Fox News is targeting a growing audience with yesterday’s debut of its new Web site, FoxNewsLatino.com,” Amanda Melillo reported Tuesday for the New York Post. “Launched weeks before the midterm elections, the bilingual site spans topics including news, entertainment and lifestyle, with a twist focusing on Latino culture and interest.” Alberto Vourvoulias-Bush, the site’s managing editor, was most recently corporate executive editor of impreMedia, overseeing news organizations such as El Diario/La Prensa and La Opinion.
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