Morning Reading List, 05.20.08

Good morning Washington. Yesterday was Jim Lehrer's birthday. It's Christina Bellantoni's birthday. DCist will represent D.C. at this summer's Democratic National Convention (and they also interviewed Matthew Yglesias). Jura Koncius is not taking the WaPo's buyout. Yesterday, the White House took on NBC...and now NBC responds (but is the White House wrong?!?). In 1993, "Cheers" said farewell. It's Busta Rhymes birthday. And Greta van Susteren is on a mission to keep Fox News in the world's airports. Quickly navigate Morning Reading List: REVOLVING DOOR | NEWSPAPERS | TV | ONLINE MEDIA | MAGAZINES | RADIO | NEWS NOTES | JOBS You think Sen. John McCain should continue to be self-deprecating about his age. Today's "Angry Journalist" rant of the day: "One of the worse aspects of this job is having to rely on other people for information. Nine times out of 10, these people aren't available when you need them and take a long time to return your call, no matter how urgent the situation. There's no point in trying to explain this fact to an editor because they believe that it's never a good enough excuse, and they will hold you accountable no matter how hard you try!" REVOLVING DOOR The New York Post reports, "There's a power struggle brewing at Bloomberg LP. The media and financial data company, which has grown into a $5.4 billion powerhouse chiefly through the leasing of its must-have computer terminals, is looking at slower growth in the near term as the slump on Wall Street erodes demand. To avoid stagnation, privately held Bloomberg -- 68 percent owned by Mayor Mike Bloomberg -- named media guru Norman Pearlstine to the newly created position of chief content officer last week." The Dallas Morning News reports, "The board of A.H. Belo Corporation, the parent company of The Dallas Morning News, added two new directors Wednesday: longtime Internet executive David Morgan and newspaper industry veteran John Puerner." A PBS release announced, "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is pleased to announce that award winning correspondent Betty Ann Bowser has been named Health Correspondent. Bowser has served as a general assignment correspondent in the Denver, Colorado production center since coming to the NewsHour from CBS in 1986. ... Working with Bowser will be Bridget DeSimone, who was named Producer for the Health Unit in March." Top of post NEWSPAPERS "John McCain's Rapid-Fire Responders" Wonkette presents, "Your Bill Kristol Error Of The Week" E&P reports, "Former Executive Editor Ben Bradlee said the combination of upcoming buyouts at The Washington Post and the likely departure of Leonard Downie Jr. is a big change, but not something to cause concern. 'It isn't distressing in any sense,' says Bradlee, 86, who served as executive editor from 1965 to 1991 and appointed Downie as his managing editor. 'It is a natural progression. I think it is a big change, but I donâ€™t see a wrenching change in direction.'" "SPJ Announces 2007 Mark of Excellence Award National Winners" Top of post TV TVNewser's Chris Ariens reports, "MSNBC's Joe Scarborough was not on Morning Joe today as he deals with the pending birth of a new child; a baby that may born premature. ... Morning Joe EP, Chris Licht tells TVNewser, 'Joe stayed in Florida to be with his wife, who is expecting a child later this summer. It appears that she will now be delivering the child early. It is a day-to-day situation. We ask that everyone keep the family in their thoughts and prayers.'" TVNewser Columnist Gail Shister writes, "With his four-year contract up Dec. 31, CNN's Chairman of the Board is suddenly a hot commodity. Chief national correspondent John King, whose visibility has skyrocketed since he became BFF with CNN's snazzy new election 'multi-touch' board, is attracting interest from competitors." The New York Times reports, "The English-language offshoot of Al Jazeera, the Arabic television news network, is pushing for a 'breakthrough' that would make the channel available to American TV viewers and help it move beyond a turbulent start-up phase, according to its new managing director, Tony Burman." TVNewser's Steve Krakauer reports, "The New York Daily News' Richard Huff profiles FNC's Bill Hemmer, and discusses with the anchor the big story of the year -- the 2008 presidential election." There are a few seats still available for The Q&A Cafe appearance of Mark Penn scheduled for Thursday at noon. At Nathans in Georgetown. $35, all inclusive. Call Jon Moss for reservations at 202.338.2000. Top of post ONLINE MEDIA TechCrunch reports, "CBS Centralizes Its Superdistribution of Videos on the Web" InfoWorld reports, "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to sit down with Google and work out the privacy issues that caused Facebook to block Google's Friend Connect last week, he said Monday." Reuters reports, "Online publishers are doing well despite an economic downturn, and the ones who are best positioned to succeed are strong brands with quality content, the head of the Online Publishers Association said on Friday." AP reports, "AOL, long associated with dial-up Internet, sheds brand identity to lure specialty audiences" CNet News reports, "Microsoft announced Sunday afternoon it has issued another proposal to Yahoo that calls for a transaction with Yahoo, but that would not involve the acquisition of all of Yahoo's assets." The AP reports, "Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit said Monday it completed its acquisition of Bebo, a global social media network. San Francisco-based Bebo, which AOL agreed to buy in March for $850 million, will form the centerpiece of AOL's newly created People Networks business unit." Reuters reports, "News Corp's .Fox Networks is launching an international online ad network Monday focused on financial news and advice, with help from the Wall Street Journal Digital Network. About 30 web site publishers are part of the network, called Worthnet.Fox, including Dow Jones's Wall Street Journal, Barron's and MarketWatch. News Corp bought Dow Jones last December." CNet News reports, "Why old media is running scared of Google" Top of post MAGAZINES Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar reports, "Last week, ETP spoke with New Yorker scribe/CNN legal analyst/bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin about what a John McCain presidency would mean for the Supreme Court. Toobin predicted that a McCain presidency would likely result in a more right-wing Supreme Court since one or more of the liberal-leaning justices will likely leave the court in the next few years due to advancing years. Toobin based this on the content of the speech McCain quietly gave on May 6th, the same day as the NC/Indiana primary." Top of post RADIO A NPR release yesterday announced, "NPR News will offer live comprehensive broadcast and webcast coverage of the Kentucky and Oregon primaries starting tomorrow at 7:00 PM (ET) with NPR newsmagazine All Things Considered co-host Michele Norris anchoring. The special is slated to conclude at midnight (ET). In the 10:00PM (ET) hour, a two-hour call-in special hosted by Neal Conan will give listeners a chance to react and discuss the evening's results." Also from NPR, "NPR News hosts Robert Siegel and Melissa Block, who were already reporting from Chengdu, China, for a special week of All Things Considered when the massive earthquake struck, are continuing their coverage from Sichuan Province all this week. Block and Siegel are part of a team of nine NPR journalists reporting on the ground for NPR News programs and NPR.org; joining them are NPR China correspondents Anthony Kuhn and Louisa Lim; All Things Considered executive producer Chris Turpin; producers Brendan Banaszak, Andrea Hsu and Art Silverman; and engineer Stacey Abbott." A release announced, "WAMU 88.5 has launched a social network for its listeners called The Conversation. The Conversation is an online meeting place for WAMU 88.5 listeners, producers, hosts, and reporters. Listeners need only go to conversation.wamu.org and fill out a profile to join. On The Conversation, they can start forums on news topics -- preferably something they heard on the radio -- engage with other public radio listeners, give story ideas and news tips to WAMU 88.5 reporters and producers, and generally continue the on-air conversation online. They also will have the opportunity to chat with on-air personalities, including Diane Rehm, who will participate in the inaugural one-hour chat on Wednesday, May 28 at 12:15 p.m." Top of post NEWS NOTES The Guardian reports, "News and information company Thomson Reuters has confirmed that it is cutting 140 journalist jobs by the end of the year. In an internal email to staff, the editor-in-chief of Reuters News, David Schlesinger, said having looked into areas of 'natural overlap and duplication in coverage' between Thomson and Reuters the newly merged company had decided more than half of the cuts would be in Europe." Bloomberg reports, "Thomson Reuters Corp., formed by Thomson Corp.'s $15.9 billion purchase of Reuters Group Plc, plans to eliminate about 835 jobs to help reach the cost savings promised by executives." Top of post JOBS Dana Press is looking for a Web Journalist. American Society of Landscape Architects is looking for a Web Strategy and Content Manager. Top of post Hat Tips: DCRTV, TVNewser, IWantMedia, Romenesko, MediaBistro, JournalismJobs, JournalismNext

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Morning Reading List, 05.20.08

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