Geraldo: No Credibility
The war plan was fine. It was the Geraldo plan that betrayed the shortsightedness of the U.S. military.If the generals had been bright enough to pull their heads out of bomb sights and terrain maps a week ago, they’d have…
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Original Ideas at ABC Family
The ABC Family Channel, looking to shake off its reputation as “ABC Repeated,” has lined up an ambitious slate of summer programming. It includes two teen series, an afternoon teen block, two reality series, three original movies, music specials and…
The Insider
Phil Scheffler, who has been Don Hewitt’s right-hand man for 23 of the 52 years he has worked at CBS News, is making good on his expectation that he would retire before Mr. Hewitt. Mr. Hewitt will turn over 60…
News Briefs
For the second time in its history, ABC News’ Nightline has won two George Foster Peabody Awards in the same year, one for a program that focused on the recovery of burn victims of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon…
News Directors Are Under Fire From All Sides
As the Radio-Television Association convenes this week at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas, the men and women who run local news operations find themselves confronted by unprecedented challenges, ranging from the expensive conversion to high-definition broadcasting…
Quick Takes
“All news is biased. We need, and have, multiple sources from which to construct a balanced picture. More worrying is the hunger for high drama and sensationalism at all the networks. This has contributed to a degradation of news programming…
Shooting the Messenger
After we arrived in Kuwait a month or more ago, it became immediately apparent to us that there were two ways to cover this war: as an embedded reporter (not an option given my obligation to anchor an evening newscast…
Close up: Mark Wurtzel
Sony Pictures Television sales executive Mark Wurtzel has been promoted to senior VP, Western region. In his new position Mr. Wurtzel will oversee all group and local sales for first-run and off-net syndicated product from SPT for the region and…
Varsity Clinches VOD Deal
On-demand television provider TVN Entertainment just announced an agreement with VTV: Varsity Television, a network targeting teens, for VOD distribution of approximately 30 hours of city- and region-specific programming. The announcement comes on the heels of Austin, Texas-based VTV’s launch…
War From the Local Angle
With the war in Iraq dominating headlines around the world, news directors are scrambling to make the war local-putting in long hours and hard work to give this international story an edge that’s personally relevant to their audiences.“For me, what’s…