July 29, 2004

Front Page
Briefs
By the Numbers
Q&A
Marlette
Analysis

About Us
Staff
Contact Us

Resources for
Reporters
Media Watchdogs

Briefs Thursday, July 29, 2004

When ***** Comes to Shove

Al Jazeera TV struggled to figure out how to explain to its viewers and Web readers this week what Teresa Heinz Kerry said that got her into so much trouble. She told a newspaper editor to “stick it in your backside,” the Arab-language network finally concluded in its effort to translate the American colloquialism into Arabic. However it’s translated, Heinz Kerry’s now-infamous remark Sunday to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial page editor to “shove it” is getting far more news-media mentions according to a search of Google News than Vice President Richard Cheney’s exhortation on June 22 to Sen. Patrick Leahy to “F--- yourself.” During the five-day news cycle of the Cheney obscenity uproar, the remark got roughly 430 mentions in the 4,500 news sources worldwide that Google searches. A search of Heinz Kerry’s intemperate retort yielded some 1,700 hits -- roughly four times as many as the Cheney expletive.

On the Web

For three more days (until August 1) and again from August 26 through September 7, nationaljournal.com, Web site of the weekly print publication, National Journal, offers full, free site-wide access. The site contains a wealth of nonpartisan information on U.S. politics, policy and government. It is typically available only to users with institutional access (for example, the U.S. House of Representatives) and people who pay a hefty $1,699 annual print/Web subscription charge. According to a Journal spokesman, more than 10,000 people -- or 20% of National Journal’s usual readership -- have logged on so far for free access.

Genevieve Hendrey

Reality TV Delegate-Style

Cashing in on the reality TV craze, CNN outfitted four delegates with digital cameras for an insider’s view of the convention. The delegate-cams aren’t the $25,000 rigs the network’s camera crew carry, but are more like the $500 department store variety parents use to record a child’s first steps. The four delegates who agreed to carry the cameras were trained by Amanda Townsend, a CNN producer. She takes the tapes, interviews the delegates and marries the sound and picture in an editing bay in the CNN trailer compound at the Fleet Center. Does this mean the network is ceding its editorial decision-making to Democratic operatives? “No,” says David Bohrman, the uberproducer in charge of CNN convention coverage. With one of his producers controlling the final product that viewers see, he says, “it feels like the right mix.”

Clarification

Media Nation reported on July 28 that MSNBC edged Fox News in ratings Sunday night, based on information from an MSNBC executive. An MSNBC spokeswoman said Wednesday afternoon that while her network won in some local markets on Sunday, Fox won the night nationally. CNN won the night nationally on Monday. MSNBC beat Fox at 10 p.m. Tuesday in both total viewers and the 25-to-54 demographic.

Briefs Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Not The Only Game in Town, Local Cable Channel Beats the Big Guys, On the Web

Briefs Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Oops!, Bias Watch, On the Web, Correction

Briefs Monday, July 26, 2004
New Toy for Political Junkies, On the Web, Bias Watch, Where do the journalists get THEIR news?