I will be on CNN's "Reliable Sources" Sunday as part of panel looking at the retirement of Charles Gibson as anchor of ABC "World News" and the naming of Diane Sawyer his replacement.

The discussion ranges from the likely replacement for Sawyer at "Good Morning America," to an assessment of how "World News" might change with Gibson gone.

On the panel with me are Tina Brown, of The Daily Beast, and Rome Hartman, the former executive producer of the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" who now runs the nightly news at BBC America.  

Continue reading "CNN's 'Reliable Sources': We'll be talking ABC News" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: CNN
        

I have heard Kate Gosselin say some screwy things in interviews, but Tuesday night with Larry King, she set a new standard for denial.

"Do you think the show affected the marriage?" King asked the most discussed mom on American television.

"No," Kate said. And she sounded like she really believed it.

No? Having cameras follow you and your husband and eight kids around for five season didn't have an effect? No? Having thousands of fans and dozens of bloggers writing about how you treat your husband like a servant or an unruly child on the show, didn't have an effect -- especially after he said it did when the two of you announced your divorce on TV in June?

Kate, you really are something. Maybe you really do believe being on this show isn't going to have a profound effect on your kids for the rest of their lives either.

Continue reading "Kate Gosselin on Larry King: Her act is getting old" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (74)
Categories: CNN
        

Here is the Media Matters ad criticizing CNN anchorman Lou Dobbs for his on-air efforts in continuing to lend credence to the "birthers" movement that says President Barack Obama is not an American citizen.

 And you had better watch it here if you want to see it, because it won't be showing in Baltimore on any cable channel.

Continue reading "Here's the ad criticizing Lou Dobbs on 'birthers'" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: CNN
        

Three cheers to CNN, Soledad O'Brien and the producers of the cable channel's Black in America 2 series for Wednesday night's "kickoff" interview with Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates.

If there was anyone who doubted whether or not CNN's Black in America series was really wired into the nation's discussion about race, they couldn't help but believe it truly was after seeing O'Brien's skilled interview with Gates. The interview preceded CNN's coverage of President Barack Obama's prime-time press conference, and by the time the president started talking about Gates' controversial arrest at his home in Cambridge, CNN viewers had to realize they knew more than the president thanks to O'Brien's interview.

Timely, focused and clear-headed, the interview was the first opportunity I had to hear Gates' account of events, and as I said in my preview of Black in American 2 Wednesday, I got up from the TV more informed about race than I was when I turned it on.

Continue reading "Henry Louis Gates and Black in America 2: Perfect!" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (38)
Categories: CNN
        

Documentaries are not supposed to be able to attract huge, mainstream audiences. Just ask all the TV networks that don't make them any more, claiming attention spans are too short for such long-form programming.

But CNN turned that notion on its head a year ago with Black in America, a documentary reported by Soledad O'Brien that was seen by 16 million people in the middle of the summer and helped ignite one of the most intense and widespread discussions of any TV production of the year. And most of the talk it generated was about race, a subject that TV had a long history of mostly trying to avoid until last year and the arrival of the nation's first black presidential candidate of a major party.

CNN returns to the topic this week for four hours across tonight and Thursday with Black in America 2, a sequel with every bit as much power and passion as the original. In fact, Black in America 2 might prove to be an even more moving TV experience for some viewers.

Continue reading "CNN's Black in America 2: TV that makes us smarter" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: CNN, TV and race
        

Wouldn't it be nice if American television cared as much about the composition of the Supreme Court as it did Michael Jackson?

Sadly, that's not the country or the media universe we live in, but the two most reliable sources of news and information in American TV will be on the case Monday morning when the Senate confirmation hearings on Judge Sonia Sotomayor begin.

Cable channel CNN and the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer will offer live coverage, and that means everyone with a TV set will have access. For Maryland viewers, the good news is that Maryland Public Television says it will carry the NewsHour coverage -- local carriage is not an automatic, as local PBS outlets can opt out.

Continue reading "Where to turn for TV coverage of Sotomayor hearings" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: CNN, Cable and Network News, MPT, PBS
        

Since an exchange I had on CNN's Reliable Sources Sunday is being batted around elsewhere on the Web, I suppose I should weigh in on it -- or, at least, try to get in on some of the traffic.

The headline is that Lauren Ashburn, managing editor for USA Today Live, and I said that MSNBC and the Fox News channel are bad for America. Here is the way my colleagues at newsbusters.org characterized it. Howard Kurtz hosted the discussion, with BBC America anchorman Matt Frei as another of the panelists.

Continue reading "Angry talk on MSNBC and Fox is bad for the nation" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (36)
Categories: CNN, Cable and Network News, Fox News, MSNBC
        

Does anyone on cable TV cover real breaking news like CNN?

Tuesday when Senator Arlen Specter dropped the bomb that he was switching to the Democratic side of the aisle, CNN was all over it. From Dana Bash (left) reporting the story on Capitol Hill to a team of reporters gathering instant reaction around Washington, while Ed Henry and Bill Schneider offered on-the-run political analysis, this is the way a major story should be covered.

A note to some of my colleagues: Let's stop blindly celebrating the ratings successes of the cymbal-clanging chimpanzees named Olbermann, Maddow, Hannity, Beck and O'Reilly on MSNBC and Fox, and pay some attention to the last real journalism being done on cable TV by the folks at CNN. They did some fast, sound and fine work again on a huge political story -- delivering the journalistic goods once again so that the sit-on-their-butt partisans on Fox and MSNBC will have something to actually talk about Tuesday night.

Continue reading "CNN shines in instant coverage of Arlen Specter story" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: CNN, Cable and Network News, Fox News, MSNBC, TV and Politics
        

For the first in the history of cable TV news, MSNBC has drawn a larger prime-time audience than CNN. And Fox continues to build the largest audience of all from 8 to 11 p.m. each night, the most lucrative part of the broadcast day.

That's the news from the March ratings period, and as much as I would like to be dispassionate about it, I just can't. That's because I know how dangerous a trend we have here with viewers flocking to fiercely-partisan, ideologically-driven opinion-based programs as they abandon productions that seek to provide down-the-middle coverage, verified information and analysis that explores all sides of issues.

In this time of national crisis, it is no small matter that viewers are choosing the bombast and posturing of Keith Olbermann on the left, and Bill O'Reilly on the right  just when sound information is needed more than ever.

Continue reading "MSNBC beats CNN in prime time - and Fox wins it all" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: CNN, Cable and Network News, Fox News, MSNBC, Ratings
        

A Baltimore trauma surgeon, Dr. Carnell Cooper, was named "Hero of the Week" by CNN today. He will be interviewed on Larry King Live at 9 tonight. Dr, Cooper will also be profiled Friday on CNN's American Morning.

CNN sent the following information in an e-mail explaining why Dr. Cooper, of the University of Maryland Medical System, was judged to be one of its “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” 

Dr. Carnell Cooper is a Baltimore trauma surgeon who got tired of patching up young men, only to see them return with another violent injury. In 1998, he started the Violence Intervention Program, one of the country’s first hospital-based anti-violence efforts. To date, he estimates that his group has provided counseling and support services to nearly 500 people. What’s more, a 2006 study authored by Cooper and his colleagues – and published in the Journal of Trauma -- proved the program’s effectiveness. Program members were six times less likely to come back to the hospital with a violent injury, and three times less likely to be arrested for a violent crime.  It’s a track record of success that has made Cooper’s program a model for others around the country.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Baltimore Television, CNN, Cable and Network News