On Making It Work, Or, An Open Letter To Network TV

by: fake consultant

Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 22:18

This has become necessary, according to the networks, partly because the market has become so fragmented...which, naturally, is cable's fault-and presumably the fault of the disloyal viewer, as well.

Another reason driving the change is related to the desire of the networks to have a source of revenue that's more reliable in times of economic downturn, when advertisers often try to husband scarce resources by cutting back on all their expenses, particularly advertising dollars.

Will this new change in the business model reverse the fortunes of the networks?
Is it possible that the networks are simply poor business managers?

And what about...Krystal Carey?

Tune in for the rest of the story-and we'll find out.

Was V a total conservative wank, or am I reading into things too much

by: TravisDisaster

Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 21:13

The scoreboard:

- UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE
- the racially ambiguous V leader demanding only positive media coverage
- a (one) world government
- "reptilian spies"
- I heard the word hope at least once

Or am I just to eager to jump on the Stossel network here?

When Comedians Out-Class Commentators

by: Living Liberally

Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 15:45

We're regularly reminded by The Daily Show that comedians can make better journalists than newscasters.

This morning's clip on ABC, in which Laughing Liberally's Baratunde Thurston spent 5 minutes discussing the President's address, demonstrated that comedians can offer more serious commentary than most pundits as well.

Check it out.

Baratunde spoke about the satisfaction of having a President who focused on the economy, energy and healthcare rather than human-animal hybrids.

Krugman shows why we need more progressive voices on TV

by: AdamGreen

Sun Jan 25, 2009 at 23:48

When I was at MoveOn, media reform was one of my main issues. I had substantial dialogues with the folks at ABC's This Week about the right-wing skew of some of their Sunday roundtables.

To his credit, George Stephanopoulous had Paul Krugman on the roundtable this weekend to discuss the economy. If you want a treat, watch this 5 minute segment from the show. As you watch, ask yourself, "What would this segment be like if Krugman wasn't there?"

Aside from Krugman, what other progressive voices are "ready for prime time" and should be on Sunday roundtables? (I nominate David Sirota, Cenk Uyger, Christy Harvey, and Ari Melber, to name a few...your turn. Include YouTube links if you have them.)

ABC This Week Recap: McCain "Straight Talk" on Hagee, 100 years, and Crusty Old Pundits

by: AdamGreen

Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 22:27

Below are 3 top outrages from the show - from YouTube (the third one's my favorite). If you want to hold ABC accountable, please sign MoveOn's petition to ABC here. Over a quarter million have signed so far, and the final number will be in an ad this week...so if you've already signed, tell a friend.

Straight Talking McCain on Hagee (and Jews and gays)

McCain on Iraq: "Eliminate" Casualties or "Keep Them Down"?

This is a Catch 22 for McCain, which reporters should ask about. If his standard for staying in Iraq for 100 years is to "keep casualties down" during those years, that's still a whole lot of casualties. If his condition for staying 100 years is zero violence, how many years is he willing to stay in Iraq before achieving zero violence? (100 years?)

ABC's Panel: Right-Wing Talking Points & Crusty Insiders

This just makes me so mad...we need more progressive voices!!

If you haven't already joined the Facebook group, "Why Doesn't Rachel Maddow have her own show on MSNBC?" it's a worthy cause.

And again, here's MoveOn's ABC accountability petition.

Thanks folks...

And we begin...liveblogging ABC's This Week. Happening now!

by: AdamGreen

Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 10:01

[10:02am]  Question 1 - John McCain's temperment on front page of today's Washington Post...former Republican Senator Bob Smith says he isn't qualified to be president. Hmmm...

[10:03am] McCain says he "gets angry" and "passionate" when the government has bad policies. A take-off on the ole' "What's your greatest strength and greatest weakness" interview answer.

[10:04am] Question 2 - The economy. Not sure what the question was, just "Talk about the economy" I think.

[10:05am] McCain attack number 1 - on Obama. Obama wants to raise taxes. And then says both Dems want to raise taxes.

[10:06am] Question 3 - How is a Medicare premium increase different from a tax increase? McCain: "It's going to be an increase in their payments, sure." "We have a trillion dollar unfunded liability associated with Medicare." And Iraq?

[10:07am] Question 4 - With your policies, you won't be able to balance the budget right? McCain: Of course I can. You can "scrub every agency of government." "Hundreds of billions can be saved."

[10:08am] George: Every estimate I've seen says only 18-20 billion. And will you cut military housing? McCain: "Of course not."

[10:09am] Question 5 - You're going to have to make deep cuts across the board to reach your projections. Are you really going to do that? McCain: Bashes wasteful spending. No mention of the math not adding up.  

[10:10am] Question 6 -- If Congress does not give you the kind of spending cuts you want, will you hold off on signing tax cuts? McCain: No!  Also first instance of him calling George "My friend."

[10:11am] Question 7 - good tax questioning. You used to say Bush tax cuts offended your conscience. What's up? McCain: "It's not taxes, it's spending that's the problem."

McCain lie unchallenged. McCain says he opposed Bush's tax cuts because there weren't spending cuts. George moves on to next question instead of pressing the offending the conscience part.

[10:12am] Question 8 - health care. McCain: "Obama and Clinton's plans are big government solution." aka My plan: do nothing.

[10:14am] Question 9 - Hmm.... George says Elizabeth Edwards says McCain has govt healthcare, why shouldn't all Americans get that quality health care. McCain calls it a "cheap question." Then says there was once a time when he didn't have great govt health care, but it wasn't our govt. Unexpected POW reference...hmmm...

[10:16am] Question 10 - Obama and Ayers. McCain attack number 2 -- says Obama was wrong to defend an unrepentant Ayers, and to compare him to Coburn. WILL GEORGE ASK HIM ABOUT HAGEE, ETC?

[10:17am] Question 11 - Obama disagreed with him. McCain: "He disagrees, but will he condemn?"

[10:17am] Question 12 - George asks about Hagee! Do you condemn? McCain: "Sure" Wow! This could be the big news. Though later he says he's proud of the endorsement, I think...will have to see the video.

[10:19am] Question 13 - Iran.

[10:21am] Question 14, 15, 16 - Iraq. No real hard-hitting questions. Pretty much, "Please talk about Iraq."  

[10:24am] "If we can keep these casualties down" Americans are ok staying in Iraq. Interesting -- not "no casualties" -- just keep them down...for 100 years?

[10:25am] Question 17 - Age

COMMERCIAL BREAK: Ok, there's breathing room for my critique now. I usually wouldn't have done question-by-question like that, but felt it was important for comparison to Wednesday's debate. Good transcript here.  Seems like the Hagee condemnation could be big news. Seems like progressives could actually make a big deal out of his "keep casualties down" in Iraq standard for staying in Iraq...he first said "Americans care about casualties, not our presence" which is his justification for 100 years. But keeping casualties down times 100 years is a lot of casualties.  Media should start asking him: How many casualties per year are you willing to accept for 100 years, or are you promising zero casualties?

Also, a big story could be the seriousness of his questions to McCain, and even deference when asking about Hagee, compared to the "gotcha" tone and substance of Wednesday's debate.

[10:32am] Observation. Bad roundtable. George Will, Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson. Prepare for a combination of right-wing talking points and stale conventional wisdom from circa 1984.  Where's Donna? Katrina? EJ? Robert Reich? David Sirota?

[10:36am] Cokie: "I know you and Charlie are taking some heat, but the facts are these are types of questions that will come up in the general election." Ugh. Flag pins. Flag pins. Flag pins. Where is her flag pin?

[10:37am] George Will does what Dems should do...given a conversation about distractions he brings back the topic he started with: taxes. "Let's get back to capital gains taxes." Cokie and Sam have no idea what's happening...where is our progressive voice?

[10:38am] MoveOn comes up. George Will says her distancing herself from MoveOn is more validation for his long-running (and incorrect) premise that "America is a center-right country." Where is our progressive voice? Where is Sirota or Rachel Maddow? This is ridiculous.

[10:41am] Sam Donaldson tries to take on McCain's straight-talk image. Good for him. Unfortunately he does it with talk about "aggregate profits" for corporations...real emotionally compelling stuff.

[10:42am] Cokie on a president who promises change: "How? And why?" "The notion that some president is going to come and change everything is absurd." WHY IS SHE ON TV?

[10:45am] Blah. Blah. Blah. Discussion of McCain's age...George Will says we have an old country and age is fine...Sam Donaldson says people like irrational tempers. Man, I love "experts."

[10:46am]Cokie reveals the president invited her to ride in his limo with Jenna and Laura...and how he marveled at the Pope's morals, etc...pretty much, "Here's the story Bush wanted me to tell, so I'm telling it."

NOT A SINGLE PROGRESSIVE POINT OF VIEW WAS EXPRESSED IN THIS ROUNDTABLE. We heard over and over again that we live in a center-right country, and got a bunch of Republican talking points on taxes, with no rebuttal.

Interesting sidenote. A commercial, which I usually tune out, caught my attention. "Yes, we are an oil company...not corporate titans, but people who try to find newer ways to power the world." ABC Sunday morning chat with no progressive voices...brought to you by Big Oil.

Ok, so...the show's over. I'm pumped up and pretty disgusted...mostly by the fact that there was little news coming out of the McCain interview (unless we make a big deal out of the McCain "keep casualties down" line) and the roundtable was so rigged.  Usually, my inclination when pumped up like this is to blog about it...but...kinda already did that so....what now?

Well, for starters, if you haven't already signed the MoveOn petition to ABC, please do. It's over a quarter-million and growing by the minute. Whatever the final number is will be reflected in an ad this week.

Aside from that, anyone want to see the McCain "lower casualties" Iraq clip?

UPDATED: Liveblogging ABC's This Week - 10 am EST Sunday on OpenLeft

by: AdamGreen

Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 22:34

I wanted to invite you to join me here for active discussion, and to suggest in the comments below any thoughts you have on things to look for. Be they big issues or small nuances...or questions you think should be asked to McCain...I'm all ears.

As many of you probably know, MoveOn launched a petition this week to ABC and other networks in reaction to this week's travesty of a debate. If you haven't seen it yet, it says:

"Debate moderators abuse the public trust every time they ask trivial questions about gaffes and 'gotchas' that only political insiders care about. Enough with the distractions--ABC and other networks must focus on issues that affect people's daily lives."

There was a ton of energy behind this media critique. A quarter-million people signed MoveOn's petition within 3 days -- thousands of them not prior MoveOn members. (If you haven't signed yet, click here.) And the sentiment was equally strong on many blogs, and even on the pages of the Washington Post, Editor & Publisherr, and other places.

When it comes to what questions should be asked to McCain tomorrow, I have to admit, I'm a little torn--and I'd really value other people's thoughts. (More below...)

Hitting Back at Disney/ABC

by: Matt Stoller

Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 15:24

Moveon also has a petition, which you can sign here.

And finally, Obama spoke out against the debate in a town hall meeting.

Apparently, the company that produced Path to 9/11 to tarnish Bill and Hillary Clinton and that worked to undermine labor and screenwriters is also shitting on Obama.  Weird!

Hadley switches from "Tibet" to "Nepal" - What the heck? (Video)

by: HoldEmAccountable

Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 17:54

Ok, this is really weird. Today, Bush National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley was on Fox talking about whether Bush would boycott the Olympics' opening ceremony, and talked about the issue of "Tibet." Later the same morning he went on ABC and discussed the same issue, but he consistently talked about "Nepal."

(As Think Progress and CrooksandLiars point out, these are 2 distinct places.) Very curious -- is Hadley just a moron? Or is there some diplomacy-speak reason that someone would tell him to actively switch from "Tibet" to "Nepal" between shows?

Video below. Full video of both shows are here.