WebProNews

Tag: CNN

  • Ann Curry “Begs” NBC To Release Her From Contract

    Rumors are flying that Ann Curry is asking her employers at NBC to release her from her contract in order to be eligible for a job with CNN, amid allegations that NBC breached the contract anyway.

    Curry, who was famously let go from her “Today” position opposite Matt Lauer earlier this year, has been offered a high-profile gig with CNN now that her old boss Jeff Zucker is set to take over at the network, and she wants it. The problem is, she’s locked into a non-compete contract with NBC which states she can’t take another job with a news outlet for two years.

    “She has formally asked her attorney to explore exit options from the network. However, NBC bosses have indicated they are unwilling to release Ann from the contract,” a “source” told RadarOnline.

    Curry feels, however, that NBC breached her contract when they demoted her, and reportedly has her lawyers checking all available options to her.

    With Zucker at the helm, CNN could be receiving a programming overhaul soon; the network has suffered serious ratings drops despite the popularity of Anderson Cooper and Piers Morgan.

  • Major Media Outlets Targeted In Patent Suits

    Major media outlets have been named in a series of patent infringement suits related to mobile phone apps and websites.

    Clouding IP is claiming such media giants as CNN, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Fox News, Time, and Gannett infringe on its patent by “among other things, making using, offering for sale, selling and/or importing products and/or services in the United States that enable access to and manipulation of data using a pervasive device, such as a mobile phone, by receiving a data request from a pervasive device, obtaining the requested data, determining the available data manipulation operations and locations of such operations for the obtained data and returning the obtained data and the data manipulation operations and locations to the pervasive devices.”

    Yep.

    Jeff John Roberts at PaidContent shares the NYT complaint:

    Clouding IP LLC

    Deadline Hollywood shares the CNN complaint, which says:

    “CNN has infringed and continues to infringe the ’481 patent by, among other things, making, using, offering for sale, selling and/or importing products and/or services in the United States that enable access to and manipulation of data using a pervasive device, such as a mobile phone, by receiving a data request from a pervasive device, obtaining the requested data, determining the available data manipulation operations and locations of such operations for the obtained data and returning the obtained data and the data manipulation operations and locations to the pervasive device. Such products and services include, but are not limited to, CNN’s websites, including cnn.com, and CNN’s mobile applications…”

    As Roberts notes, the New York Times and another patent troll recently agreed to dismiss the case, and both parties simply paid their own costs.

    Clouding IP has also been involved in a patent suit with Rackspace this year.

    image: TheElectricBananas (YouTube)

  • New CNN President Named: Jeff Zucker

    New CNN President Named: Jeff Zucker

    CNN Worldwide today announced that Jeff Zucker will take the reigns of the global media company as its CEO. Starting in January 2013, Zucker will oversee the 23 news and information businesses under the CNN brand, including CNN International, CNN.com, and HLN.

    “I am thrilled to join the distinguished team of journalists across the worldwide platforms of CNN,” said Zucker. “The global reach and scale of the CNN brand is unparalleled in all of news. Outside of my family and the Miami Dolphins, there is nothing I am as passionate about as journalism. I spent the most rewarding years of my career as a journalist, and it’s where I look forward to spending many more. I am grateful to Phil Kent for this opportunity, and I’m excited to return to daily newsgathering and compelling storytelling in a place that values those above all else.”

    Zucker began his career as a researcher for NBC Sports, and was named executive producer of NBC’s Today show in 1992. From there, he rose through NBC to eventually become president and CEO of NBC Universal in 2007.

    Turner Broadcasting System CEO and Chairman Phil Kent announced Zucker’s appointment.

    “Jeff’s experience as a news executive is unmatched for its breadth and success,” said Kent. “He built and sustained the number-one brand in morning news, and under his watch NBC’s signature news programming set a standard for quality and professionalism. As a programmer, a brand-builder and a leader, he will bring energy and new thinking to CNN. I couldn’t be happier to welcome him or more excited about what he’ll accomplish here.”

    (Photo credit: David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons)

  • Mitt Romney Surges in Facebook Buzz Surrounding RNC

    Earlier this week, Facebook and CNN expanded their new election data partnership with the launch of a real-time Election Insights tracker, which monitors the current buzz surrounding the four candidates in the 2012 election (Obama, Romney, Biden, and Ryan). The Election Insights page features various conversation charts, which allows users to sort the social buzz geographically and demoraphically.

    And it looks like the Republican National Convention is doing its job (one of its jobs, at least): It’s making people talk about Mitt Romney.

    Day-over-day, Facebook discussions of Mitt Romney have increased by 137%. This includes comments, posts, likes, and various other Romney-related mentions on the site. Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan has also seen a surge, at +102% since yesterday’s true launch of the convention.

    Of course, the Election Insights have their limitations. They don’t differentiate between negative and positive mentions, meaning that a “Go Mitt Romney” post and and “Mitt Romney is a tool” post both factor into total buzz. But it does serve one purpose: it shows just how much a party convention can affect the national dialogue. By comparison, Obama and Biden only show a buzz increase of 13% and 20%, respectively.

    When the Democratic National Convention kicks off in September, we’re likely to see a similar buzz increase for the incumbent.

    Campaigns must utilize Facebook to not only rally the troops and provide updates to potential voters, but to generate revenue as well. Barack Obama already has an online store app tied to his Facebook account, and Mitt Romney’s page just launched its own.

    With the online store app (situated right next to the Donate app on his Timeline), Romney can pitch his growing fanbase a variety of campaign products like hats, mugs, stickers, and magnets. Although users are directed to the offical Romney campaign site to complete any purchases, there is one important reason to tie it all into Facebook:

    Sharing:

    With every link to Mitt Romney’s Facebook page via a tag in a post, the campaign has a chance to grab donations and sales. With the huge upswing in mentions across the site generated by the convention, the Romney/Ryan ticket has the opportunity to expose voters to their message.

  • Facebook Expands on CNN Politics Partnership with New “Election Insights”

    Back in July, Facebook and CNN announced a partnership that they said would make Election 2012 a more social experience. And little by little, the team has been unveiling small parts of that social coverage. Today, they’ve announced another small piece of the machine, real-time “Election Insights.”

    The Election Insights page is housed on CNN’s site, and features charts and graphs based on real-time data from Facebook concerning the amount of buzz each candidate is receiving. The tool tracks President Obama, Paul Ryan, Joe Biden, and Mitt Romney and displays information like the percent change in people discussing them, as well as demographic breakdowns of the conversations.

    “Facebook is naturally a place where friends engage in political discourse, and we’re pleased to announce that the Facebook-CNN Election Insights tool will offer an interactive, real-time glimpse into how and where this conversation is taking place across the country,” said Elliot Schrage, Vice President-Corporate Communications & Public Policy at Facebook.

    Political junkies can do they’re own demographic breakdowns by filtering the data based on state, gender, age, and time period. And for those who wish to get involved in the conversation, the page feature a Facebook comments plugin.

    According to Facebook, the two entities worked with Mass Relevance to create the Election Insights tool.

    “Today’s launch builds on a previously announced multi-platform partnership between CNN and Facebook intended to bring an interactive and uniquely social experience to CNN’s on-air, mobile and online audiences and Facebook’s more than 160 million U.S. users. The Facebook-CNN Election Insights tool is powered by Facebook Insights and was designed and developed by Mass Relevance, a social integration firm that specializes in the curation and display of real-time social content.”

    Last week, Facebook and CNN unveiled the “I’m Voting” app, which allows Facebook users to share their political leanings (candidate support, positions on the issues, party perceptions, etc.) with their friends via Open Graph sharing.

    Facebook’s U.S. Politics and Government team is currently taking on the GOP convention.

  • Facebook Makes Campaign 2012 More Social with New “I’m Voting” App

    Let’s say you’re someone who has strong feelings about politics and all aspects of the 2012 Presidential race. Good, it’s nice to care deeply about things. Let’s also say that you like to make your policial leanings well known to all. Well, that can be a mixed bag. With that in mind, Facebook and CNN have teamed up to make sure this election is as social as possible, in a way that hopefully focuses on the parties, candidates and issues without much of that inflammatory fluff that belies real political discussion.

    Today, they’re finally launching the I’m Voting app, which was first announced in early July as one of the key products of the Facebook/CNN partnership.

    “With Election Day right around the corner, it’s time for everyone to get involved, understand the issues, and make a commitment to participate. We believe that the power of friends – the social dynamic that creates a societal impact — will result in a more involved citizenry that turns out on Election Day, informed about the most critical issues facing the nation,” says Facebook’s U.S. Politics & Government Team.

    When you first launch the app, you’ll be asked to take a very simple voting pledge. all you have to do it click “Yes, I’m voting” to get started. If you don’t want to make that kind of a crazy commitment (?), you can skip it and head on to the meat of the app.

    The I’m Voting dashboard consists of questions, maps, results breakdowns, and a comment section – everything you need to get the political discussions going. Users can cycle through questions like…

    What’s your political leaning?
    Which issue matter most to you?
    If the election were held today, who’d get your vote?
    Should the public be able to see all of a candidate’s previous tax returns?
    Should Americans be required to have health insurance?
    Should states be able to enact tougher immigration laws than the federal government’s?

    …and many more. You can click on “Support” for whichever position you choose and then decide if you want that answer pushed to your Timeline and your friends’ news feeds & tickers by simply checking or unchecking the share box. Every page has a comments section that you can once again choose whether or not to post to your Timeline.

    Here’s a sample of the page layout:

    Facebook says that the app will also become a “second screen” for CNN on-air and online content. Presumably, that means that the network will use data compiled from the app in its broadcasts.

    Like I’ve said before, 2012 is the first truly social election. Not only are the candidates more invested in getting out their message (and the vote) via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. – but voters have a better opportunity to share and debate than ever before. Politics on Facebook gets a bad rap – and rightfully so sometimes. People are oftentimes as*holes, to put it bluntly.

    But sharing your opinions on the issues via Open Graph app – that has to be better than a snarky status, right?

    Disclaimer: I am guilty of many a snarky political status.

  • Facebook & CNN Team Up For More “Social” Election Coverage

    With the U.S. Presidential election less than four months away, we can start preparing ourselves for a jam-packed closing stretch of party conventions, debates, and political analysis. And today, CNN and Facebook have announced a partnership that they say will make CNN’s election 2012 coverage a more social experience.

    The first stage of this partnership involves a new app. Called “I’m Voting,” the app will allow Facebook users to put their political beliefs out there for everyone to see. Once users decide to broadcast the fact that they will be voting this November and endorse a specific candidate, that info will be pushed to their Timeline as well as their friends’ Tickers and News Feeds.

    The app will also allow users to comment on specific campaign issues. On CNN’s side of things, they will use the app to ask questions and prompt discussion for their election coverage.

    That app will be available in English and Spanish.

    The partnership is really all about grabbing information, and the two companies say that they’ll be working to “measure metrics” and survey voters in order to provide comprehensive coverage of the election from a geographic and demographic standpoint.

    For instance:

    As the campaigns progress, Facebook will report the aggregate amount of discussion surrounding each candidate and CNN will drill down on specific state-by-state analysis.

    Facebook and CNN will survey voting-age users in key U.S. locations and demographics around the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Presidential Debates, Election Day and other significant dates on the political calendar. CNN’s editorial department will work with Facebook’s research team to write the questions and publish the results on CNN, CNN.com, and on the U.S. Politics on Facebook page, Facebook’s hub for campaign 2012 information.

    Here’s the U.S. Politics Facebook page as they announce the partnership this morning:

    U.S. Politics on Facebook2 minutes ago

    Exciting news from Facebook and CNN this morning! We’re teaming up to take the pulse of the American electorate and amplify the voices of Facebook users as they share their thoughts and feelings on candidates and critical issues facing the country ahead of Election Day. Read more about this innovative multi-platform partnership:

    Facebook, CNN Partner for 'America's Choice 2012' Political Coverage
    CNN, America’s most trusted source of news and information for the 2012 presidential campaign, and Facebook® have partnered to offer an interactive and uniquely social experience for CNN’s on-air, mobile and online audiences and Facebook’s more than 160 million U.S. users.

    Powered by socialditto  4 likes ·  1 comments

    “Each campaign cycle brings new technologies that enhance the way that important connections between citizens and their elected representatives are made. Though the mediums have changed, the critical linkages between candidates and voters­ remain,” said Joel Kaplan, Facebook Vice President-U.S. Public Policy. “Innovations like Facebook can help transform this informational experience into a social one for the American people.”

    We know that this election is going to be the most “social” election of all time, as all of the GOP primary contenders and now President Obama and (eventual) Republican nominee Mitt Romney have had to make serious efforts to build a presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

    And though you may get a little tired of some of your political friends’ public updates about their stances on certain policy issues, it’s hard to argue that a more informed electorate is a better electorate, and will 160 million U.S. users, Facebook is a good place to start.

  • CNN Shook The Christmas Present, Killed The Parrot On Health Care Coverage Says Jon Stewart

    The Daily Show devoted a large majority of their show last night to the analysis of yesterday’s landmark Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare to some. But it’s Jon Stewart’s lashing of CNN and Fox News that really won the night.

    In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts surprised a lot of people when he sided with the more-liberal arm of the Court and provided the crucial fifth vote to uphold the law – even the controversial “individual mandate” clause.

    It needn’t be stressed that this SCOTUS vote was a pretty big deal, as it will undoubtedly shape the course of health care in America over the upcoming years. And because of the magnitude of the decision, cable news outlets were chomping at the bit to be the first to break the news when the decision was handed down.

    But as you may already know, both CNN and Fox News had a bit of a “Dewey defeats Truman” moment at around 10:00 am yesterday. Both networks reported that the individual mandate had been deemed unconstitutional, a headline that was just flat out wrong.

    Fox corrected their error in a about two minutes. But as Jon Stewart points out, it took CNN just a bit longer. Pobre CNN.

    Sarcastically likening CNN’s reports of embarrassment for the Obama administration to the obvious embarrassment of the entire CNN staff, Stewart says,

    “How will the administration recover after this incredibly public blow to their credibility? I mean, the administration staked their entire reputation on this important moment, and now the administration is out there, the face of this giant f*ck up. Sure wouldn’t want to be the administration right now.”

    “Yes, widely different,” he continued. “There’s what you’ve been saying…and then there’s what happened.”

    Check it out below:

  • Health Care Decision: CNN Posts The Wrong Headline

    Whenever big events are brewing, it’s common for certain parties to prepare for all possible outcomes. Of course, most of the time we don’t see that, though. All we see is news organizations getting their stories up promptly and championship teams wearing their swag as soon as the game is over. We never see the headlines saying that Apollo 13 crashed. We never see the tshirts declaring the Kansas Jayhawks the 2012 NCAA men’s basketball champions.

    Except sometimes we do, and that’s what happened today. As you may have heard, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Health Care Act – a.k.a. Obamacare – in a 5-4 decision today. To the shock of many court watchers, Chief Justice John Roberts crossed party lines and voted in favor of upholding the law, including its controversial individual mandate, which requires that all Americans purchase health insurance coverage. When the decision was first announced, though, there was more than a little confusion in the ranks. You see, while most news organizations were saying things like this:

    CNN was singing quite a different tune:

    And the error wasn’t just on Twitter. It even made it to their main news page:

    Dewey Defeats Obamacare

    Of course, it didn’t take them too long to tweet out a correction:

    But by then the damage was done, and CNN had become the butt of countless jokes:

    Of course, some people were drawing the obvious comparison to the famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline, when the Chicago Tribune erroneously reported that New York governor Thomas Dewey had defeated incumbent President Harry S Truman in the 1948 election. Photographs of a triumphant Truman holding a copy of the paper (see the lead image above) circulated widely, making the incident a paradigmatic example of journalistic screwups.

    Interestingly, CNN wasn’t the only news outlet to misreport the decision. Fox News, often criticized for it’s conservative leanings, had its own problems when the decision was announced. Like CNN, they initially reported that the Supreme Court had overturned the act, though they quickly corrected it.

    Dewey Defeats Obamacare

    Neither CNN nor Fox News made much fuss about the change, apparently – and understandably – wanting to just quietly move along as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, it looks like we have this generation’s “Dewey Defeats Truman.”

  • CNN Mashable Acquisition Rumors Are Back

    There were rumors going around at SXSW in April that CNN was in talks to acquire Mashable. Here’s what Reuters had to say about it at the time:

    Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore at reportedly denied the rumors to Mashable staff.

    Business Insider is now reporting, citing two unnamed sources, that Mashable execs have been preparing for an acquisition by CNN. Nicholas Carlson writes:

    One source tells us that Mashable has audited its finances and sent them to Turner.
    …

    This source also says Mashable executives have been holding meetings to discuss which Mashable divisions will be integrated into CNN and which will not be. A second source close to Mashable confirms that executives have been working on a deal with CNN. This source speculates that the deal is 80% likely to close.

    Personally, I like the idea of Conan O’Brien acquiring Mashable better:

  • CNN Hits 15 Year Low In Veiwership

    CNN Hits 15 Year Low In Veiwership

    The downward slide by CNN continued when a new episode of Piers Morgan Tonight at 9 PM drew in only 39,000 viewers in the Adult 25-54 age range. This news follows last months debacle which saw CNN record its lowest ratings in a decade.

    The fall of CNN is, in part, due to the continuing split of political opinions in the country where people want news and opinion that closely matches their own. But it is mainly due to the rise and dominance of the Fox News Channel. Currently Fox News owns the top 13 spots in the race for the top rated programs on cable news. The 10:00pm re-run of Bill O’Reilly’s the O’Reilly Factor beat almost everything but demolished anything CNN had to offer.

    The last time a CNN show had these kinds of terrible numbers in that weekday time slot was on August 22, 1997 during a Larry King show that only drew 50,000 viewers in the Adult 25-54 age range. The difference is that Larry King’s overall viewer numbers were 693,000, Morgan’s show only had a total viewership of 284,000. CNN seems to be on a sinking ship, and as one commenter on deadline.com put it:

    “Please, please let this be the reason that they fire Piers Morgan. He is the anchor to their sinking ship. Truly the worst interviewer in the history of television. He makes Arsenio Hall look like Mike Wallace.”

  • CNN Rating: Network’s Viewership Continues to Decline

    CNN ratings are currently at a 10-year low, which, to me, is kind of surprising. Then again, I haven’t watched the channel in ages, so perhaps things have taken a turn for the worse as of late. The company was once the undisputed champion of the cable news networks. Now, it would seem, they’re struggling to stay afloat.

    According to Nielsen, the news giant’s total-day viewership is averaging only 357,000, which is a remarkable 21% drop from last year. Additionally, Anderson Cooper’s evening news program experienced a 26% decline, drawing in a paltry 522,000 viewers. As you have guessed, these numbers have given the network the worst ratings in 10 years.

    Anderson Cooper’s program isn’t the only one struggling at the moment. Most CNN shows are having trouble keeping viewers glued to the tube. For example, “Starting Point” is down 26%, while “Erin Burnett Outfront” has experienced a 22% decline in viewership.

    All of this would seemingly indicate that the network is starting to fall apart at the seams. However, an official spokesperson for CNN claims that “ratings are cyclical”. They’re not the only news network experiencing problems; MSNBC and Fox News Channel have also experienced a steady decrease in viewers across the board, which suggests that this might be an industry-wide phenomenon.

    It would seem that a lot of people on Twitter have their own theories as to why the company is experiencing some issues. A few of these tweets have been embedded below.

    (image)@geeoharee
    Lauren G    Bachmann rebuttal… RT @owillis: so wait, being the official network of the tea party debates didn’t boost cnn’s ratings? #surprisesurprise(image) 1 minute ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Arianna8927
    SportsGirl101    Maybe they should stop trying to be like FOX News–>Bad news: CNN’s worst ratings ever – http://t.co/e8gSSNcy http://t.co/9a0jwymK(image) 4 minutes ago via Tweet Button ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@zepol
    Chris V. Lopez    CNN is pretty unwatchable most hours; needs to go back to its roots: RT @nytimes: CNN Ratings Decline Stirs Worries http://t.co/XhPsZQgP(image) 18 minutes ago via Echofon ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@jzangwill
    Julia Zangwill    CNN absent from Bewkes’s letter to employees w title: “Doing What We Do Best” due to ratings decline http://t.co/yr46oZzO(image) 8 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@DeTroyes1
    DBK    CNN wondering why ratings have tanked, looking for answers. Suggest they look at whoever hired Soledad O’Brien, Elliot Spitzer & fire them(image) 24 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Anderson Cooper Acts Like a Dyngus

    Over the summer Anderson Cooper went on a 40 second giggle fest after he discussed Gerard Depardieu’s airplane urinating incident on The Ridiculist. The French actor could not wait to use the toilet a moment longer and decided to let out his own jet stream on a CityJet flight from Paris to Dublin.

    The following clip made me laugh for over five minutes and I had to wipe my eyes twice; apparently laughter is contagious:

    Anderson told CNN anchor John King that he was completely embarrassed over the display and thinks he laughs like a 13-year-old girl at an N’ Sync concert.

    Alas, his giggles have returned.

    This time the trigger for his giggling was Dyngus Day, a Polish-American holiday widely celebrated in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. It is a common custom for boys to sprinkle girls that they like with water and for girls to respond to such initiations by tapping them with pussy willows.

    Other polish festivities surrounding the pre-Easter event include polka, lots of liquor, and pierogis (fattening and delicious dumplings stuffed with cheese, potatoes, and sauerkraut and fried in butter).

    The entire scene can look very bizarre to outsiders and it is understandable why Cooper was lost for words for over a minute, but some people are mad and feel like he is picking on the ethnic holiday.

    Here is what some people posted on YouTube:

    “Would it be funny to laugh at the traditions of CNN’s favorite groups like Blacks and Gays? Anderson Cooper would go crazy if anyone ever laughed at? or ridiculed his Gay people.”

    “Indeed. These media morons like Anderson? Cooper are anti-Polish Bigots.”

    “I wonder if he makes fun of other holidays,? like say, Martin Luther King Day or Kwanza? Another prime example of anti-Polish sentiment in the USA.”

    Cooper apologized on Twitter for his giggle fit:

    (image)@andersoncooper
    Anderson Cooper    In ridiculist I called my silly giggle fit “so stupid” not @dyngusday. Sounds like a fun celebration. Genuinely sorry if I offended anyone.(image) 4 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • CNN And The “N” Word: When Do Quotes Cross The Line?

    CNN and reporter Drew Griffin came into a negative spotlight last month when Griffin, while reading a quote on-air during a report about a federal hate-crime, said n**ger but censored himself on the word f**king.

    “At the end of this, Deryl Dedmon is laughing with his friends and actually called on a cell phone and, pardon my language but there’s no other way to say this — ‘I just ran over that f—ing nigger,’ that’s what he said. And it was a clear-cut case of pure racial-intent murder that took place there, which is why it was so easy to apply the hate crime legislation in this case,” Griffin said. He was reporting on a Mississippi case in which 3 men were charged with a hate crime after brutally beating and running over a black man.

    The fact that Griffin apparently thought it acceptable to use a racial slur but not a curse word angered many, but the backlash didn’t keep another reporter from using the word on-air yesterday during a report about the Tulsa shootings of five black men, three of whom died from their wounds.

    While reading from a Facebook post made by the suspect, reporter Susan Candiotti quoted, “Today is two years that my dad has been gone, shot by a f–king n–ger.”

    The difference between the two is that Candiotti didn’t censor herself at all and read the quote in its entirety, prompting the question of whether or not it’s okay to include offensive words in a broadcast in the name of quoting someone else. While Griffin and Candiotti were obviously simply reading a line originally spoken by someone else, some argue that the words are still harmful and these reports just perpetuate their use; while there is no way to completely eradicate a particular word from the vernacular, it’s an opinion held by many that respected members of the news media should set an example, especially concerning a word that holds so much negativity and hurtfulness.

    Candiotti has since apologized for reading the quote uncensored, saying, “In quoting someone else’s words, I repeated their offensive and inappropriate language. I deeply regret it.”

  • CNN Reporter Uses N-Word On Live TV

    Drew Griffin, a special investigations reporter, is under fire for his use of a racial slur on air yesterday.

    Griffin, who was reporting about a recent federal case where 3 Mississippi men were charged with a hate crime for running over a black man after brutally beating him, was repeating what one of the suspects was heard saying on his cell phone:

    “At the end of this, Deryl Dedmon is laughing with his friends and actually called on a cell phone and, pardon my language but there’s no other way to say this — ‘I just ran over that f—ing nigger,’ that’s what he said. And it was a clear-cut case of pure racial-intent murder that took place there, which is why it was so easy to apply the hate crime legislation in this case,” Griffin said. “There was no question about it, unlike the circumstances involving the case in Florida.”

    The case he is referring to is that of 17-year old Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed in February by a neighborhood watch captain who claimed that Martin looked “suspicious” and that he only shot in self-defense. The case has garnered national attention and speculation that the shooter, George Zimmerman, acted out of racial motivation.

    Because the use of the word is an extremely sensitive subject, many are outraged that Griffin would use it on air but chose to censor himself with the use of the word f***ing.

    Since he was quoting someone else and wasn’t directing the slur at someone, do you think he should have used the word or not? Let us know in the comments section.

  • Amanda Peet Wants to Prove that she is a Comedian

    The bodacious Amanda Peet will be on television more often. She returned to primetime last night with “Bent,” a romantic comedy penned by Tad Quill.

    She plays the role of Alex Meyers, a recently divorced lawyer and mom who is feeling a little jaded and depressed. The show is about her relationships with her fellow cast members and how they mold her perspectives on life.

    The cast includes Jeffrey Tambor (“Arrested Development”), JB Smoove (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) and Jesse Plemons (“Friday Night Lights), and her enlightening surfer carpenter played by David Walton.

    Only 2.6 million viewers tuned in for the series premiere and one person said that the show was doomed, “lt’s all building to something no one expected”?? I think it’s building to something EVERYONE will expect. Looks predictable, unoriginal and pretty much awful. Pass!” on the trailer that was posted on YouTube.

    In an interview with CNN the 40-year-old actress said that it has been difficult for her to find interesting roles due to her age.

    Peet had starred in another series, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” but it was cancelled after one season. The star thinks the show failed because, “it was too expensive and there was too much anticipation. I guess all together we seemed like this arrogant monolith, but individually, none of us felt very arrogant. So it’s kind of curious. Including Aaron [Sorkin]. The backlash, the vitriol. If it had been some 30- or 35-year-old new discovery instead of Aaron Sorkin, things might have been different.”

    The actress feels like she can be uptight like her new character is but says she isn’t completely anal retentive: “I don’t clean, I don’t make the bed. I spend my salary. I worry a lot. I just don’t worry about socks on the floor.”

    At one point she was asked if she thinks audiences view her as a comedic actress? She said she hoped so.

    I have to say that I believe she is hilarious. I enjoyed her role as a mouthy straight-shooting New Yorker in Please Give. Her obsession with an ex-beau and tanning was easy to relate to and her performance pinned her for high profile roles in comedy.

  • Fonda And Steinem Want Limbaugh Off The Air

    For years, Rush Limbaugh has been under fire for his comments on air during his radio program, “The Rush Limbaugh Show”. Lately, however, he seems to be going out of his way to incense the public, and his sponsors are dropping like flies.

    On Monday, the three co-founders of the Women’s Media Center–Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem–wrote a commentary on CNN.com expressing their disgust that Limbaugh has been allowed to use “degrading language” over the airwaves under the claim that he is protected by the First Amendment rights. As reported earlier by Mike Tuttle, Limbaugh’s supporters feel his rights are being trampled and have blown up the web with explosive comments and arguments.

    The commentary comes after a host of Limbaugh’s sponsors pulled their ads and several radio stations dropped his show following incendiary comments he made about law student Sandra Fluke and her advocacy of insurance-covered birth control. As reported earlier this week, Gloria Allred went public with her pursuit of the prosecution of Limbaugh for those same remarks, citing defamation of character.

    The commentary talks about particular comments Limbaugh has made in the past and claims that the newest controversial statements are even worse than his “regular sexist, racist and homophobic hate speech”, using examples from his radio show to back up the complaint. It also lists several popular opinions on both Limbaugh and whether the issue is political or not, and goes on to state the opinions of the famous feminists on each matter. It’s clear that they believe Limbaugh is not going to change his ways in the near future:

    “Limbaugh doesn’t just call people names. He promotes language that deliberately dehumanizes his targets. Like the sophisticated propagandist Josef Goebbels, he creates rhetorical frames — and the bigger the lie, the more effective — inciting listeners to view people they disagree with as sub-humans. His longtime favorite term for women, “femi-Nazi,” doesn’t even raise eyebrows anymore, an example of how rhetoric spreads when unchallenged by coarsened cultural norms.”

    The opinion piece ends by stating that the FCC should shut down Limbaugh’s show once and for all in a show of support of the sentiment of the general public, and pleads with readers to do what they can in order to take him off the air:

    “This isn’t political. While we disagree with Limbaugh’s politics, what’s at stake is the fallout of a society tolerating toxic, hate-inciting speech. For 20 years, Limbaugh has hidden behind the First Amendment, or else claimed he’s really “doing humor” or “entertainment.” He is indeed constitutionally entitled to his opinions, but he is not constitutionally entitled to the people’s airways. It’s time for the public to take back our broadcast resources. Limbaugh has had decades to fix his show. Now it’s up to us.”

  • CNN To Acquire Mashable? A Possibility, According to Reports From SXSW [Updated]

    Update: TechCrunch is reporting that Mashable staffers are saying CEO Pete Cashmore is denying the rumors to them.

    Reports are coming out of SXSW that CNN is in talks to acquire Mashable. This is being reported by the New York Times and multiple others, though there’s no word yet from either CNN or Mashable.

    The NYT cites “three people with knowledge of the talks” as its sources. Reuters reports, citing an unnamed source that “It’s entirely possible” that CNN will buy Mashable for over $200 million, and that an announcement is expected on Tuesday.

    Mashable’s sale to a bigger media entity has been rumored for years. In early 2010, rumors were going around that AOL was going to buy it. Obviously that didn’t happen, though AOL did buy TechCrunch and The Huffington Post.

    As Felix Salmon mentions in the video the TechCrunch acquisition has hardly been smooth for AOL, as many of the site’s key writers have left. Mashable has already lost some if its key writers, so that will be an important element to consider going forward, acquisition or no.

    Some have indicated that they think $200 million would make the acquisition overvalued, but Mashable’s more consumer-oriented focus (as compared to a site like TechCrunch), along with its pageviews, have enabled the site to attract big advertiser money.

    Mashable has also been able to expand its own brand at a high level through various partnerships, including with CNN itself.

  • CNN Suspends Roland Martin For Super Bowl Tweets

    CNN has suspended commentator Roland Martin after some remarks he Tweeted during the Super Bowl were interpreted as homophobic. CNN issued a statement that read:

    “Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.”

    Martin has defended what he said in his Tweets as not being homophobic at all. His comments came immediately after the H&M underwear commercial featuring David Beckham.

    Since Martin has not deleted any of the Tweets in question, we can walk through the whole thing in chronological order and see how it played out. First, here is the Beckham ad that ran during the Super Bowl.

    Immediately after that, Martin Tweeted:

    Followed immediately by:

    Here is where things started to go bad for Martin. He was challenged by multiple people on Twitter as to what he meant by the Tweets. Were they homophobic?

    Martin responded…

    From here out, Martin tried to explain that his issue was not with a mostly-naked man, or gay men. It was with Beckham being shown in a commercial during the Super Bowl. He went on to remind people that he makes wisecracks about soccer a lot. His assertion was that the Super Bowl (American “football”) was no place to run an ad about soccer (European “football”). His crack was about Beckham the soccer player, not Beckham as a half-naked man.

    Martin even made another comment about Piers Morgan that would seem to back his “it was about soccer” defense.

    And, Piers Morgan responded to him in kind, being jovial and saying nothing about gays.

    Someone else responded to that exchange…

    And, once again, Martin pointed to soccer as the crux of his joke…

    Flash forward to today. CNN suspends Martin as commentator based on his Tweets. Seems to me like a spineless thing to do. Stand up for the people who work for you if you can tell they are not in the wrong.

    This man’s misunderstanding has put Roland Martin’s career in question. This is how an ignorant accusation can get out of hand fast, especially when an organization like CNN refuses to do the right thing. This has nothing whatsoever to do with political ideology. It’s just a matter of decency. Roland Martin explained himself. And, there is at least a whole mountain of reasonable doubt as to whether his statement was interpreted correctly. CNN chose to bow to the invective of ignorant people.

  • Viral Videos: Obama’s Marshmallow Cannon, Epic Skyrim Battle, & Wolf Blitzer…OMG

    A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, via social media, sharing sites, or good ‘ole email. Everyday we highlight some of the best that are currently viral and some that are trending that way.

    Today’s videos feature BYU sharing its Black History Month knowledge, a Skyrim battle that rivals Braveheart & Lord of the Rings, Go-Go Juice, and a Courtney Stodden mermaid.

    My favorite thing about this video is that it has, quite possibly, produced the greatest presidential photo ever taken (see above).

    God bless the machinima community, without them we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the absolute pieces of art they construct for free.

    CNN attempting to win over the 13 year old teenager market – Santorum Wins South Dakota…WTFBBQ. Keep it coming Blitzer, your Jeopardy performance starts to make sense.

    Baby sounds make the internet go round, and round…

    Some amazing effects in this video, and if you’re into a trippy experience then I highly recommend it.

    St. Vincent “Cheerleader” from Hiro Murai on Vimeo.

    In all my years treating the internet like a playground and looking at all the weird stuff I could, I didn’t think I could be shocked…I’m not always right. I have nothing to say…

    Go-Go Juice, a mixture of Mountain Dew and Red Bull; what every growing girl needs to compete on the beauty pageant circuit.

    A wonderful, and imaginative animated movie about a cat trying to survive in a world filled with water.

    Aqua from Gints Zilbalodis on Vimeo.

    This video is causing some controversy, for good reason. It’s very eye-opening, and it makes you wonder how these people got to college without knowing these things. The host of the special certainly went with the controversial route as well.

    Isn’t she (Courtney Stodden) only 16 years old? Oh well, time to go check my credit score…

  • Larry King and Richest Man In the World Go Online Together?

    Carlos Saks is filthy rich.

    He’s 71 years old.

    He’s #23 on Forbes list of powerful people.

    He’s #1 on their Billionaires list.

    He has a fortune of $74 Billion.

    His wealth is roughly 5% of Mexico’s annual economic output,

    And, if the rumor mill is correct, he’s about to hook up with Larry King for an online venture.

    Larry King, whose CNN show “Larry King Live” ran for 25 years from 1985 to 2010. He signed off on December 16, 2010 and handed the reins to Piers Morgan.

    Given the high-profile personalities attached to this project, everyone is staying mum about it. King’s attorney did say: “I can confirm that there have been discussions in which I participated.”

    Larry King spent his entire career in broadcasting, so an online venture would be a departure for him. But, with the kind of name recognition he has, it’s easy to see why a moneybags like Carlos Saks would court him.