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(04/01/03 4:32am)
NEW YORK -- NBC fired journalist Peter Arnett on Monday, angered that he had given an unauthorized interview with state-run Iraqi TV saying the American-led war effort initially failed because of Iraq's resistance.\nArnett apologized for is "misjudgment," but added: "I said over the weekend what we all know about this war."\nMeanwhile, the Pentagon was investigating whether Fox News Channel reporter Geraldo Rivera endangered troops by revealing the plans of a military unit in Iraq in advance. Rivera denied reports that he had been expelled from the country.\nArnett, who won a Pulitzer Prize reporting in Vietnam for The Associated Press, gained much of his prominence from covering the 1991 Gulf War for CNN. One of the few American television reporters left in Baghdad, his reports were frequently aired on NBC and its cable sisters, MSNBC and CNBC.\nNBC was angered because Arnett gave the interview Sunday without permission and presented opinion as fact. The network initially backed him, but reversed field after watching a tape of his remarks.\nThe network said it got "thousands" of e-mails and phone calls protesting Arnett's remarks - a thousand e-mails to MSNBC President Erik Sorenson alone.\n"When I heard he had given an interview to Iraqi TV, I immediately thought it was about as bad a judgment that a reporter in the field could make," Sorenson said. "I held out hope initially that maybe he had given the interview at gunpoint or there was some extenuating circumstance."\nIn the interview, shown by Iraq's satellite television, Arnett said the United States was reappraising the battlefield and delaying the war, maybe for a week, "and rewriting the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan."\nArnett said it was clear that, within the United States, opposition to the war was growing, along with a challenge to President Bush about the war's conduct.\nMike Fissel of East Berlin, Penn., whose son is a Marine serving in the Middle East, called Arnett's comments "a disgrace." Fissel e-mailed his protests to NBC.\n"My son's over there risking his life with all of his buddies and this guy's basically saying we've failed, we screwed up," Fissel said. "That is wrong to me. It seemed un-American and unpatriotic."\nArnett, speaking Monday on "Today," said he wanted to apologize to the American people.\n"I gave some personal observations, some analytical observations, which I don't think are out of line with what experts think," he said. "But clearly I misjudged the firestorm."\nHe said he planned to leave Baghdad, where he was one of the last reporters left for a U.S.-based television network, and joked that he'd try to swim to "a small island in the South Pacific."\nLeaving a second network under a cloud could mark the end of his TV career. Arnett was the on-air reporter of a retracted 1998 CNN report that accused American forces of using sarin nerve gas in Laos in 1970. He was reprimanded and later left the network.\nThe first Bush administration was unhappy with Arnett's reporting on the Gulf War in 1991 for CNN, suggesting he had become a conveyor of propaganda.\nFox's Rivera, traveling with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq, revealed tactical information and at one point told about an attack two hours before it took place, according to sources at the U.S. Central Command who asked not to be identified.\nFox's rivals, CNN and MSNBC, both reported Monday that Rivera had been kicked out of the country.\n"During a live broadcast, Geraldo drew a map in the sand of where that unit was going. Not exactly what you're supposed to do out there," CNN anchorman Leon Harris said.\nShortly thereafter, Rivera delivered a report via satellite phone saying he was 60 miles from Baghdad. In the report, which first aired at 11:30 a.m. EST, Rivera labeled reports of his ouster "a pack of lies" spread by his former colleagues at NBC.\n"It seems to me like some rats at my former network are spreading lies about me," he said. "They can't compete fair and square on the battlefield, so they're trying to stab me in the back. It's not the first time."\nRivera said he intended to ride into Baghdad in search of Saddam Hussein, "the Iraqi Hitler."\nPentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said that while Rivera was not embedded with any military unit, any violations of embedding rules were taken very seriously.\n"I have been in contact with the news organization and assured they are taking it seriously," Whitman said. "We will make an appropriate determination once we have evaluated all of the facts."\nFox News Channel executives did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.\n"The war among the press is about as intense as the war in Iraq," Fox prime-time host Bill O'Reilly said in a telephone interview.\nFox News Channel was reporting Monday that one of its embedded reporters, Greg Kelly, was cut in the face by flying glass when a mortar exploded near him during a firefight over control of a bridge.\nAssociated Press reporter Nicole Winfield contributed to this report from Doha, Qatar.
(02/25/03 6:32am)
NEW YORK -- CBS News' Dan Rather said hard work and luck helped him land his interview with Saddam Hussein on Monday _ the Iraqi leader's first interview with a foreign television journalist in 12 years.\nCBS posted a report about the interview on its Web site Monday afternoon, saying Saddam has challenged President Bush to a live debate on their nations' differences.\nIt's the biggest interview "get" of the year in television news, one all the national news organizations had been seeking. Reached by telephone in Baghdad, Rather credited his executive producer, Jim Murphy, and foreign desk staffer Ana Real for their work in securing it.\n"It was a lot of hard work, some team play and, yes, some luck," he said.\nRather reported on the interview Monday on the "CBS Evening News." But the first taped excerpts won't be seen until Tuesday morning. The full interview is to air in prime time Wednesday, on "60 Minutes II."\nRather has interviewed Saddam once before, in 1990. CBS News also ran excerpts earlier this month from Saddam's interview with Tony Benn, a retired British lawmaker who has become a peace activist.\nThe anchorman was in Iraq on Monday, hoping to secure the interview, and was told at 8 a.m. EST that Saddam was ready. After two hours spent going through security, Rather and Murphy met Saddam.\nRather said the fact of his previous Saddam interview probably helped him secure this one. Competitor Peter Jennings of ABC News also interviewed Saddam in 1990, while NBC's Tom Brokaw has not.\n"We made a point of saying to him that we keep our word," Rather said. "We do what we say we will do and won't do what we say we won't do. They came out of that with the experience that we are who we say we are."\nCBS acknowledged that former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who is prominent in the global anti-war movement and met with Saddam on Sunday, put in a good word for Rather in helping secure the interview.\nClark has known Rather for a long time, said CBS News spokeswoman Sandra Genelius. In a competitive situation seeking an interview, journalists call on many different resources, she said.\nRather did not anticipate any criticism from supporters of a potential war with Iraq who might be upset that he's talking with the nation's potential enemy.\n"I'm a reporter," he said. "What reporters do is try to talk to everybody on all sides of the story. I don't know any journalist who wouldn't take this interview. If you do, have them call me, collect"
(02/24/03 4:50am)
NEW YORK -- The network of Eminem and "The Osbournes" is getting ready for war, too.\nMuch like the broadcast and cable news networks, MTV is laying out plans to cover a potential war with Iraq, expecting to be both a news source and sounding board for teenagers and young adults.\nWhile many viewers are likely to turn to the traditional news networks for initial war reports, television outlets like BET and PBS are planning to bring their own takes to the story. MTV, with its special hold on young viewers, has a chance to reach those who might not regularly watch news.\nSeveral MTV reports on the war buildup have aired already, and correspondent Gideon Yago is just returning from Kuwait after visiting soldiers and young Arabs, compiling a diary for MTV and its Web site.\nMTV executives, who are constantly taking the pulse of their audience's ever-changing moods, were surprised at the level of interest in the conflict in a poll taken a few weeks ago. It ranked equal to drug abuse as the top concern of people aged 14 to 24.\nThis was the first time a political issue had scored so high. Usually, viewer concerns are more personal: drugs, sex, school violence, peer pressure. The potential Iraq war looms as a bigger worry than terrorism did in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, said Dave Sirulnick, MTV's vice president of news and production.\n"It's very much on the minds of the young people," he said. "It's real. It's become more than just a political issue, it's a life issue."\nTwo-thirds of the young people polled said they knew somebody in the military, and were worried for their safety. These findings confirmed MTV's gut feeling that there was a hunger for news, Sirulnick said.\nMuch of the MTV News coverage works as a basic primer, with a rock or rap soundtrack -- on what is going on. That's not often available in traditional news reports, consumed with the daily nuances of the story.\n"If you're a 20-year-old, you're getting only pieces of it," Sirulnick said. "Nobody is explaining this in a way that makes sense to you, in a way that is delivered specifically for you."\nTwo recent news reports give five arguments against a war, and five in favor. Another offered viewers five things they should know about Iraq, saying many young Iraqis listen to American music. That enabled a glimpse of a Britney Spears video.\nMTV News needs to walk the delicate line of not going over their viewers' heads, and not talking down to them, he said.\nCorrespondent John Norris opens a more lengthy special report being aired repeatedly while standing in front of anti-war demonstrators in New York.\nMTV tries to play it evenly, giving equal time to the Bush administration's views and that of anti-war demonstrators, Sirulnick said. The poll reflects the need for evenhandedness; among respondents aged 14 to 17, it found 46 percent favor military action to remove Saddam Hussein, and 45 percent oppose it.\nThe network, which aired a town meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell after the terrorist attacks, has yet to persuade a prominent administration official to talk about Iraq.\n"I think they know that the treatment they'll get is fair and that it's a direct outlet to young people," he said.\nSince many in the military are MTV viewers, or peers of them, the network is spending much time talking about their experiences. The series, "True Life," will profile several young soldiers preparing for war in a segment called "I'm Shipping Out."\nMTV hasn't requested that any reporters be embedded with military units. And it's not certain whether an on-air personality will be sent to Iraq. In those cases, MTV is relying on its partnership with corporate cousin CBS News.\nOn Sept. 11, MTV switched to a CBS News simulcast. Sirulnick said that's not as likely if war breaks out, but MTV will probably use parts of CBS broadcasts and hear from CBS reporters in the field. MTV will probably have a mixture of news reports, will take calls from viewers and show poignant music videos.\n"Our purpose on the day that war breaks out is we are going to be a community service for our viewers, a place where people can feel connected to other people their age," Sirulnick said.
(02/21/03 4:52am)
NEW YORK -- Jane Pauley, who began her NBC career as a 25-year-old "Today" show anchor and has been "Dateline NBC" host for a decade, said Thursday she's quitting in June to pursue new opportunities.\nAt 52, Pauley said the time was right to try a second career. Her contract with NBC expires in June.\n"I expect that television will figure in my future in some way," she said. "It's less what I want to do than how I want to do it. I have some entrepreneurial instincts. I think the idea of being my own boss is appealing."\nHer departure will leave NBC News with a hole to fill at a time when "Dateline NBC" and most newsmagazines are sagging in the ratings. Pauley and Stone Phillips are the only two hosts the show had known.\nPauley was plucked from a Chicago newscast in 1976 to be co-host of "Today" with Tom Brokaw. Bryant Gumbel replaced Brokaw in 1982 and, with Pauley, formed a team that led "Today" past ABC's "Good Morning America" to ratings dominance.\nWhen NBC executives, seeking a fresher face, replaced Pauley with Deborah Norville in 1989, they badly underestimated Pauley's popularity and the move backfired.\nNBC gave Pauley her own newsmagazine and, after that failed, she settled in at "Dateline" in 1992.\nHer restlessness was foreshadowed when she took a six-month leave that ended on Sept. 10, 2001. She worked on a book about her career that she's yet to finish.\nPauley surprised NBC executives with her wishes after they broached the subject of another contract. NBC News President Neal Shapiro, former "Dateline NBC" executive producer, took her to lunch and gently prodded her about whether she was serious.\n"I have known Jane long enough to know that when she gets an idea, she gets an idea, and you have to respect that," Shapiro said.\nPauley said there was no unhappiness with her job, or NBC, that prompted her move.\n"This would not have been a good 'Dateline' story," she said. "While it did have a good character and the topic was relatable, what it lacked was conflict."\nShapiro said he would explore all options about replacing, or not replacing, Pauley on "Dateline." With reality TV all the rage, "Dateline" faces the prospect of being cut back from its current three-night-a-week schedule this fall.\nAlthough she's had some talks with TV producers and publishers, Pauley said she's taking a leap of faith about her future.
(02/20/03 5:18am)
NEW YORK -- With a week to go in the February ratings "sweeps" period, Fox is poised for its first-ever victory among television viewers ages 18 to 49.\nCBS is leading among all viewers during this period, where ratings are watched closely to set advertising rates, with Fox and NBC neck-and-neck for second. The "sweeps" period ends Feb. 26.\nBut youth-obsessed television executives take a keen interest in the 18- to 49-year-old rankings, since it's the demographic most craved by advertisers. And Fox has never won a ratings "sweep" before in this category, or among total viewers.\n"Just a few months ago, they were dead in the water," Marc Berman, a television analyst for Media Week Online, said Wednesday. "This is a big victory for them. Big, huge, phenomenal."\nLast week's ratings show how Fox has done it: "Joe Millionaire," with 24 million viewers, was second only to CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Two "American Idol" episodes were in the ratings Top 20, along with a special episode of "The Simpsons" and a "Married With Children" reunion.\nFox still has another "Joe Millionaire" left for next week, and is airing ratings-king Michael Jackson's response to the highly rated British documentary that aired on ABC.\nAmong total viewers, CBS won last week behind "CSI" and the return of "Survivor," which proved its potency by drawing more than 23 million viewers.\nABC's "Are You Hot?" reality series debuted to a middling 10 million viewers last Thursday. But in a sign of how TV times have changed, it was still watched by more people than NBC's new showcase drama "Kingpin."\nFor the week, CBS averaged 13.6 million viewers (8.9 rating, 14 share), NBC had 12.3 million (8.0, 13), Fox had 11.9 million (7.0, 11), ABC had 9.9 million (6.2, 10), the WB had 4.5 million (2.8, 4), UPN had 3.5 million (2.3, 4) and Pax TV had 1.2 million (0.8, 1).\nNBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 11.7 million viewers (8.3 rating, 16 share). ABC's "World News Tonight" was second, averaging 11.2 million viewers (7.9, 15) and the "CBS Evening News" had 9.3 million (6.5, 12).\nA ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.\nFor the week of Feb. 10-16, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 16.7; "Joe Millionaire," Fox, 14.2; "ER," NBC, 13.8; "Friends," NBC, 13.5; "Survivor: Amazon," CBS, 13.3; "Friends" special, NBC, 12.4; "Law & Order," NBC, 12.3; "Will & Grace," NBC, 12.1; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 11.5; "American Idol-Tuesday," Fox, 11.4.
(02/18/03 4:35am)
NEW YORK -- During coverage of the space shuttle Columbia's disintegration, the folks in CNN's control room thought the picture they saw on rival Fox News Channel looked familiar.\nSo they tried a little experiment.\nThe producers superimposed a tiny "CNN" logo on the upper left corner of the network's screen as it showed the shuttle breaking into pieces. Blip! The same logo appeared on Fox News Channel.\nThen they decided to abruptly switch cameras so a picture of correspondent Miles O'Brien appeared. For two seconds -- until it was hurriedly replaced with a view of NASA's mission control -- it looked like O'Brien was working for Fox, too.\nThe shuttle disaster provided a vivid example of the lengths to which television networks sometimes go to get the most compelling pictures for a big story -- and an even more vivid example of the consequences if they don't.\nA Fox News Channel spokesman did not return a telephone call seeking comment. Earlier, a station representative told Broadcasting & Cable magazine that its request to explain the apparent piracy was "a waste of time."\nAs the Columbia flew over Texas on the morning of Feb. 1, Dallas station WFAA-TV followed its normal routine for fly-bys: A cameraman was assigned to capture the streak across the sky.\nThe picture appeared live on the air. But it wasn't for several minutes, until the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it had lost contact with the shuttle's crew, that it became clear what WFAA's pictures revealed.\nSeveral videos of the shuttle falling apart, both amateur and professional, eventually surfaced that day. But for a certain period as the nation awoke to the unfolding tragedy -- perhaps as much as an hour -- WFAA's pictures were the only ones available.\nWFAA has affiliation agreements with both ABC and CNN. Television is a complex web of affiliations and exclusivity arrangements. Usually, they're respected. But with satellite dishes, networks can pluck virtually any pictures out of the sky and, on a big story, it's often anything goes.\nCBS used WFAA's video in its special report. The network politely asked for permission -- after the pictures had already appeared.\nCBS News President Andrew Heyward argued that the concept of fair use -- essentially the legal term for anything goes -- applies in cases of national emergencies.\n"Every once in a while you have a piece of video that is so newsworthy you really can't keep it off the air," Heyward said. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, network news division heads agreed that they all could use each other's video.
(02/12/03 4:42am)
NEW YORK -- Three of the four biggest broadcast networks said they have no interest in airing a sanitized version of HBO's Emmy Award-winning comedy "Sex and the City."\nThe fourth network, CBS, would not comment on the possibility Monday.\nPublished reports, first in Variety on Friday, said HBO had approached executives at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox about airing an edited "Sex and the City" as a prime time series, starting this fall.\nAlthough it's rare for a cable series to find a home on broadcast networks, ABC had some success last year by picking up reruns of the USA Network series "Monk."\n"Sex and the City" would present special problems for the broadcast networks, given its often-explicit story lines about four single women in New York City.\nBut since each episode would have to be cut from the 30-minute version that runs on commercial-free HBO to about 22 minutes to accommodate ads, racier scenes could be cut. Series producers, anticipating the show's potential sale to the more restrictive networks at some point, also have recorded alternate versions of explicit scenes, said an executive familiar with the proposals who spoke on condition of anonymity.\nHBO has long talked about selling "Sex" reruns to others. But this is the first time the major broadcast networks have been mentioned as a possibility.\nNBC rejected the overture for several reasons, spokeswoman Rebecca Marks said.\n"It would have to make fiscal sense for us," she said. \n"Secondly, we feel confident about our own (series) development. Lastly, we don't have any needs at this current time."\nABC also passed on the proposal, spokesman Kevin Brockman said. So did Fox, said a network executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.\nThere was some concern among broadcasters about HBO's asking price, said by Variety to be around $3 million per episode. As a division of the financially ailing AOL Time Warner, HBO is likely under pressure to increase revenue.\nSome in the industry also wonder about the taste for "Sex" reruns, especially at a time when repeats generally do poorly in the ratings. "Sex and the City" is rerun repeatedly on HBO.\nHowever, HBO is available in only about a third of the nation's homes with television sets, meaning there's a large potential audience that hasn't seen the show.\nHBO has said it will run 12 additional original episodes of the series this summer, then eight more starting in January 2004. After that, the series will conclude.\nA successful sale of a sanitized "Sex" raises the possibility of HBO doing the same for "The Sopranos," although nothing appears to be imminent.
(02/11/03 4:46am)
NEW YORK -- Three of the four biggest broadcast networks said Monday they have no interest in airing a sanitized version of HBO's Emmy Award-winning comedy "Sex and the City."\nThe fourth network, CBS, would not comment on the possibility.\nPublished reports, first in Variety on Friday, said HBO had approached executives at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox about airing an edited "Sex and the City" as a prime-time series, starting this fall.\nAlthough it's rare for a cable series to find a home on broadcast networks, ABC had some success last year by picking up reruns of the USA Network series "Monk."\n"Sex and the City" would present special problems for the broadcast networks, given its often-explicit story lines about four single women in New York City.\nBut since each episode would have to be cut from the 30-minute version that runs on commercial-free HBO to about 22 minutes to accommodate ads, racier scenes could be cut. \nHBO has long talked about selling "Sex" reruns to others. But this is the first time the major broadcast networks have been mentioned as a possibility.\n"It would have to make fiscal sense for us," said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks. "Secondly, we feel confident about our own (series) development. Lastly, we don't have any needs at this current time."\nABC also passed on the proposal, spokesman Kevin Brockman said. So did Fox, said a network executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.\nThere was some concern among broadcasters about HBO's asking price, said by Variety to be around $3 million per episode. \nHBO has said it will run 12 additional original episodes of the series this summer, then eight more starting in January 2004. After that, the series will conclude.
(02/10/03 5:13am)
NEW YORK -- Last week was a terrific one for CNN's "Larry King Live," just like the old days.\nA plugged-in panel, including a former astronaut, talked about the space shuttle Columbia disaster. National Security Director Condoleezza Rice discussed the case against Iraq. Former President Clinton gave a rare interview.\nThe jocular, 69-year-old talk show host, who also talked to Elizabeth Taylor on Monday, was in his element.\nThe timing couldn't be better. "Larry King Live," still CNN's most popular program, slipped behind Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" in the ratings last fall and responded with a series of guests that raised questions about whether it could get back on top.\nBesides Taylor, King's guests over the past few months have included Art Linkletter, Maureen O'Hara, Jermaine Jackson, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Jack Hanna, Bob Barker, Pat Boone, Richard Thomas, Bob Newhart, Carol Channing, Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Carol Burnett and a panel discussing Marilyn Monroe's life.\nIt's a list of entertainment heavyweights -- heavyweights of 1970, and even earlier.\n"In an era where there is no longer a 'Murder She Wrote' or 'Love Boat' for these people to get work on, at least they have Larry King," said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.\nAge doesn't measure relevance, of course. Certainly older guests like Mike Wallace and Dan Rather have plenty to say. But it puts CNN in a difficult position: if a network isn't trying to actively attract young viewers, at least it doesn't want to repel those who can't remember when Linkletter collected the darndest things kids said.\nIt was notable in October when "Hannity & Colmes" outdrew King in the ratings for the first time. The 17-year-old "Larry King Live" is CNN's prime-time flagship.\nThe Fox duo has remained ahead in viewership since then, although December and January were virtual dead heats.\n"I'm not really numbers-oriented because I'm too worried about who we're putting on the show," said Wendy Whitworth, senior executive producer of "LKL." "I think our numbers are OK. I really don't concentrate on what 'Hannity & Colmes' is doing, because we don't compete with them."\nUntil this past week, it has been a relatively slow news period dominated by war preparations. It's been slow for King, too, despite some newsmaking interviews: Trent Lott after the remarks that led him to resign as Senate majority leader, and Laura Schlessinger about her mother.\nSome of the veteran stars were interviewed on tape, so King could leave some relatively timeless shows behind when he vacationed around the holidays.\n"The mix has not changed," Whitworth said. "It would be really easy to do old people all the time, or young people or news all the time or law. The hard part is the juggling act, because people expect him to be everything."\nDoes King's loss in the ratings reflect a loss in stature?\n"It used to be, an informed person would read The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and check out the monologues on the late-night shows," Thompson said. "Larry King used to be on the list of 10 or 12 things you had to check. I don't think it is anymore."\nWith so much more competition for guests, King may be having a tougher time getting the people on the top of everybody's lists, said Martin Kaplan, associate dean of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communications. Whitworth concedes booking is harder than a decade ago.\n"What his competitors are offering now is edge and attitude, and what he is offering is a kind of comfort zone," Kaplan said, "and there may be a ceiling on the appeal for comfort."\nJim Walton, CNN's incoming chief executive, said he has no concerns about "Larry King Live" and issued the show a strong vote of confidence. Some at CNN say there's more unease when King devotes a big chunk of time to Rather or other CNN competitors than when he has older entertainers.\nGoing a little hipper with guests also runs the risk of alienating King's fans. The median age of King's audience in January was 69 (it was 61 for "Hannity & Colmes"), and 72 percent of those watching "Larry King Live" were 55 or older, according to Nielsen Media Research.\nReplace Carol Channing with Avril Lavigne, or Bob Newhart with Jack Black, and a number of King's most devoted followers might respond with, "Huh?"\nDespite television's obsession with youth, there's certainly a profitable niche available for programs that can consistently draw older viewers; just ask the prescription drug companies.\nBut a niche audience can't be what CNN wants at such a key time of day.\nWhitworth resists any notion that King has lost steam. She said she'd welcome guests that would challenge King's older audience; Britney Spears and Eminem both have standing invitations.\n"Without exception, Larry is the person you go to when you're in the news, have a book, movie or are in the middle of a political crisis," she said. "There's nobody we wanted last year that we didn't get -- except the pope"
(01/28/03 5:51am)
NEW YORK -- Don Hewitt, who invented "60 Minutes" and has been its executive producer since the stopwatch began ticking in 1968, announced Monday he is stepping down next year.\nHewitt, 80, will be succeeded by Jeff Fager, executive producer of "60 Minutes II."\n"60 Minutes" remains a Sunday night fixture on CBS, the longest-running prime-time show ever and still the most popular newsmagazine. Hewitt is credited with inventing the modern-day format of a television newsmagazine.\nAs its behind-the-scenes leader, Hewitt decides which stories reported by correspondents Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft and Lesley Stahl will go on the air.\nHis potential retirement has been a sticky subject at CBS, where executives wanted to set a succession plan in place. \nHewitt, meanwhile, has said, "I want to die at my desk."\nOn stepping down from "60 Minutes," Hewitt will become executive producer at CBS News, in charge of developing new projects and offering advice to his successor. Terms of CBS' new multi-year agreement with Hewitt were not revealed.\n"There is no way to overstate what Don Hewitt has meant to CBS," network president Leslie Moonves said, "and there aren't too many people who have literally created standards by which an entire industry has operated. Don has done all of that and more."\nFager, 48, was widely considered Hewitt's heir apparent. He worked as a producer under Hewitt for five years, was executive producer of the "CBS Evening News" and helped establish "60 Minutes II" as a successful franchise of its own. His replacement at that newsmagazine was not yet named.\nHewitt began working at CBS News in 1948 and produced the first televised presidential debate in 1960, between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. He is widely credited with coining the TV term "anchor" to describe Walter Cronkite's role at the 1956 political conventions.\nHe was head of the CBS News documentary unit when he developed the idea for "60 Minutes." The first episode aired on Sept. 24, 1968.\nHewitt will keep his present job through the end of this television season and the next, turning over the reins to Fager in June 2004.
(10/09/02 4:44am)
NEW YORK -- A new season, the 28th, dawns on "Saturday Night Live" this week and, as always, the question is how the pendulum will swing. \nThe NBC comedy institution is uniquely elastic in quality. You can chart its health on a graph like the stock market, from glory years to gory years and all sorts of middling seasons in-between. \nRight now, the show is on a high. After a descent into bathroom humor during the mid-1990s, the comedy is now sharp and topical. \nThe "Saturday Night Live" writing staff, largely together for about seven years, returns to work this week with a new Emmy Award in hand. \nBut the loss of two performers -- Ana Gasteyer and Will Ferrell -- may herald a challenging year. Ferrell, in particular, was a valuable utility player in the mold of Dan Aykroyd or Phil Hartman. \n"Is it a transition year from several good years into one of its lulls?" asked Tom Shales, a television critic.\nHe's anxious for the answer, and so is Lorne Michaels, the show's founder and executive producer. \n"I think it's a big loss," Michaels said. "But the nice part of the show is, having lived through these transitions a lot of times, from the audience's perspective, people are patient with it." Even during the down years, there are still a handful of good shows, he said. \n"When a cast is at its peak and the writing staff is solid, you get an evenness," Michaels said. "It never goes below a certain level. You never worry that when people are up there they're going to sort of forget why they're funny." \n"SNL" was the first network television program controlled by baby boomers and has changed with each succeeding generation, Shales said.
(09/06/02 3:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>NEW YORK -- Kelly Clarkson, a cocktail waitress from Texas whose signature song was Aretha Franklin's "Respect," was judged America's next pop star Wednesday by the viewers of "American Idol."
After more than 15 million telephone votes were cast by viewers, the 20-year-old Clarkson beat Justin Guarini, the big-haired crooner from outside Philadelphia.
Clarkson was the survivor among 10,000 entrants who thought they had what it takes to be pop stars. Along the way, the Fox series became the television hit of the summer, particularly among young viewers.
Even Simon Cowell, the British judge with a penchant for the withering insult, was seen to wipe away a tear at the result.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
NEW YORK -- Dan Rather couldn't go on. Tears welled, and his voice was strangled with emotion as he described the World Trade Center rescue site to David Letterman, who then grasped Rather's hand and quickly cut to a commercial. \nThe CBS anchorman broke down again on Monday night's "Late Show" while reciting the lyrics to "America the Beautiful" and observing the nation would never hear those words in the same way again. \nAs unelected national leaders, the near-constant onscreen presence of television's top news anchors -- Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings -- has magnified their words, slip-ups and displays of emotion in the days following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. \nEach logged long hours in what was, between Tuesday and Saturday, the longest unbroken string of coverage for a single news story in TV history. And with emotions raw for everyone, they have served as the journalistic equivalent of comfort food to a hungry nation over the past week. \n"By sheer default, they become comforters, they become parental figures, they become, in a sense, untrained psychologists in these situations," said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. \nNBC's Brokaw said Tuesday that television has served as connective tissue for reeling viewers. "The comfort comes in the information they get and the context and in trying to strike the right demeanor," he said. \nBrokaw said he's tried to keep his emotions in check, but admitted to being blindsided by his feelings, particularly while watching rescue workers raise the American flag in the World Trade Center wreckage. \nWhile not passing judgment on his colleague, Brokaw said he's avoided appearances of the type that proved an emotional trigger for Rather. \n"I can't fault Dan for that," said Joseph Angotti, chairman of the broadcast program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. "These guys are human beings and they're dead tired. These kinds of things happen when you get to a time like this." \nEven Walter Cronkite, Rather's predecessor, got choked up when he read The Associated Press flash that President Kennedy had been assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963. \nThe hours for each anchorman were crushing: Jennings was on the air almost constantly from 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to 2 a.m. Wednesday, then anchored ABC's coverage from 10 a.m to 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Over the weekend, he led a two-hour children's special. \nABC has been criticized for falsely reporting, in some cases along with several other news organizations, that several survivors had been found and that authorities had detained potential hijackers armed with knives at New York airports. \nYet few of Jennings' words attracted more attention than in the hours after the attack, when he was discussing the reasons for President Bush delaying his return to Washington. \nIntroducing a report by Ann Compton, Jennings said: "The president and his response to this is also part of the psychological package because the country looks to the president on occasions like this to be reassuring to the nation. Some presidents do it well and some presidents don't." \nThe remarks triggered hundreds of angry calls and letters to ABC News, saying Jennings was unnecessarily harsh on the president. (Jennings was too busy to be interviewed Tuesday, a spokesman said.) \nAngotti said he feared journalists, instead of being too tough, would be reluctant to ask difficult questions for fear of not appearing patriotic to an angry, grieving nation. \nDuring his Letterman appearance, Rather pledged support for President Bush. "Wherever he wants me to line up, tell me where," Rather said. "He'll make the call." \nHis stated support for a Republican president is somewhat ironic, since he's been a target of conservative activists dating back to his tough questioning of President Nixon during the Watergate crisis. \nOverall, Angotti said the experience of all three anchormen has been invaluable. Each has been his network's leading newsman about 20 years. \n"I think they've been exemplary," he said. "They have provided an example of how coverage of critical importance like this should be done. No one understands how difficult that job is." \nBrokaw said that although there have been glitches along the way, "I have never seen NBC News or any other organization respond as well to a story of this complexity and magnitude"
(09/12/01 4:36am)
NEW YORK -- A chaotic scene of devastation unfolded on national television Tuesday with cameras catching a plane crashing into the World Trade Center and the subsequent collapse of both of the towers. \nTelevision networks began live coverage of a morning of terrorism at the time the first plane hit the New York City landmark. With cameras trained on the smoking skyscraper, television caught the second plane crashing into the other tower, footage replayed several times. \nAs the terror spread, CNN showed a split-screen view of the smoking World Trade Center and also the Pentagon, where smoke billowed from another plane crash. \nReports spread as fast as television could detail them -- planes grounded across the country, the White House evacuated, planes unaccounted for -- while commentators tried to keep calm. \n"This is the most serious attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor," said NBC's Tom Brokaw. \nA producer from CNN, Rose Arce, reported people jumping from the World Trade Center and described the chaos gripping lower Manhattan. \nCameras then caught the collapse of both of the twin towers, showing white smoke billowing throughout the streets of lower Manhattan. A shaken Ashleigh Banfield reporting on MSNBC described debris showering around. \n"I've never seen anything like this," a breathless and sobbing Banfield said. "This whole place looks like a war zone. When the cloud came out I could feel the force of it." \nFox News Channel ran a continuous crawl of news bulletins summarizing the series of events. \nC-SPAN took phone calls from shaken citizens. One caller from California said: "This is a sign to America: We think we are the strongest country and they hit us; they knew where to hit us." \nOther television networks suspended normal programming. The ESPN sports networks showed ABC News reports, VH1 showed CBS News programming, TNT showed CNN coverage. News networks dispensed with commercials for continuous coverage. \nThe shopping networks QVC and ShopNBC network went dark, saying the tragedy had forced them to suspend programming. \n"We share with our customers and employees, our sadness as well as our thoughts and prayers," ShopNBC said in a message.
(05/07/01 1:40am)
NEW YORK -- Tina Wesson got her $1 million, Colby Donaldson is picking out a new motorcycle -- which she's buying for him -- and CBS has 36.4 million reasons to be thankful for "Survivor." \nThat's how many people tuned in to the final episode of the Outback "Survivor" Thursday night, according to Nielsen Media Research. \nWhile down from the 51 million who watched Richard Hatch win the first "Survivor" in August, the second finale was up against tougher competition during a ratings "sweeps" period. \n"It's a huge success for CBS," said Marc Berman, an analyst for Media Week Online. "I don't think anyone can be disappointed with that number." \nCBS also put a dent in the normally dominant NBC Thursday night lineup. The "Survivor" audience was twice that of "Friends," and the one-hour interview show with "Survivor" cast members became the first program on any network to beat an original "ER" episode since Nov. 17, 1994, in the drama's first season. \nThe "Survivor" audience peaked between 9:30 and 10 p.m., when Wesson was declared the winner, at 41.3 million, Nielsen said. CBS also noted that the first "Survivor" averaged 28.2 million viewers throughout its run while the second edition averaged 29.1 million -- even without counting the post-Super Bowl debut. \nMark Burnett, the show's executive producer, said he was pleased with the ratings. \n"I'm very competitive," Burnett said. "It's not the numbers to me. It's beating people." \nWesson, the 40-year-old nurse from Knoxville, Tenn., won the big prize in a 4-3 vote by her fellow contestants. She beat Donaldson, the 27-year-old Texan who sealed his own fate after winning the final immunity challenge when he chose Wesson as his final competitor instead of Michigan chef Keith Famie. \nWesson admitted she was having difficulty accepting the outcome because she felt she hadn't won the game outright. \nLate Thursday night, unable to sleep, she talked to Donaldson and told him, "you're the reason I won." She said she would have felt better about it if she had won the final immunity challenge. \n"I said, 'If you weren\'t the person you are or hadn't played the game in that way, I wouldn't have put you there,'" Donaldson said on Friday. \nWesson and Donaldson said they had both agreed that if either were in the position to do so, they would make sure each was in the final two. Wesson insisted that if she had won final immunity, she would also have booted Famie. \n"We wanted America to be really happy with who won," she said. \nThe two also secretly agreed that whoever won would buy the other a motorcycle. Donaldson has his eye on a Harley-Davidson. He also won $100,000 as a consolation prize and a sport utility vehicle by winning the final reward challenge. \nDonaldson said he wants to pursue a career as an actor. \nHe's certainly popular at his hometown in Christoval, Texas, where more than one-fifth of the town's 250 residents turned out for a party to watch the final show. The Texas Trade'N Post in Christoval also credits Donaldson for boosting business; it has sold more than 1,000 pieces of "Survivor" memorabilia in the last month. \n"Colby has saved my life," said store co-owner Alison Ramirez. \nHow unpopular was Famie? A crowd gathered in the Volcano Grill in Southfield, Mich., near his hometown, stood up and cheered Thursday night when Famie was voted off the show. \nThe good-natured chef took it in stride Friday, even joking about the complaints about his cooking that came from fellow contestants. \nHe said he's working on a book with the title, "Yes, I Can Cook Rice"