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Tiger Woods Infidelity Breaks Up a Truly Beautiful Ad Relationship

For any of us who travel a lot—meaning that we pass through many airports—one of the joys in the past five years or so have been those huge, absolutely gorgeous ads for Accenture featuring Tiger Woods. You know the ones: They…

Dec 14, 2009

Funny or Wrong: ‘SNL’ Takes on Tiger

Just about when I got done chuckling about "Saturday Night Live’s" opening sketch spoofing the Salahis continually interrupting a presidential speech to take even more photos of themselves, a mini controversy breaks out on the heels of a major scandal. Seems…

Dec 8, 2009

How Much Is Fear of the Internet is Driving Comcast Deal?

Is fear of the Internet one of the drivers of the Comcast-NBCU deal? For those who have a vested interest in the way video is currently delivered to consumers, one of the things that keeps them up at night is…

Dec 7, 2009

PEN Awards: An Evening of Written Excellence

On a night when many people were consumed with the tabloid-y coverage of the Tiger Woods infidelity scandal, it was a pleasure to honor authors, artists and writers whose work often represents the antithesis of the low road. PEN USA,…

Dec 3, 2009

‘The Media Ruined Our Lives’

The plot thickens in the case of Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the now infamous White House state dinner party crashers who made their first television appearance on the "Today" show Tuesday morning. The Salahis, a social-climbing couple who reportedly are…

Dec 1, 2009

Adam Lambert: Network Roller-Coaster Ride

Just as with Jon and Kate, and before them, Octomom, it’s hard to avoid the Adam Lambert spectacle. After admittedly missing the entire “American Idol” season in which he took second place–and thus never having seen him perform–it was difficult…

Nov 25, 2009

For Many Years It Was Thought That an Oprah ‘Halo Effect’ Delivered a Significant Number of Viewers to ABC’s ‘World News.’ If That’s Still True at All, What Happens When She Ends Her Current Show?

A few years ago—OK, more than a few—Tom Brokaw and his executive producer, Steve Friedman, had me up in their “Nightly News” offices to share with me an extraordinary memo that had been prepared by Larry McGill, NBC’s manager, news and…

Nov 24, 2009

News of a TV Legend Ending Show Raises Real Issues About Journalism and Why It’s So Important (No, I’m Not Talking About Oprah)

If you’re at all interested in why journalism matters in a free society—and you should be–I want to recommend a book to you. The book is "Moyers on Democracy" by Bill Moyers. Perhaps the best description I’ve ever heard of Moyers was…

Nov 22, 2009

ABC News Interview of Janet Jackson Enough to Make You Cringe

It was Janet Jackson’s turn to shine, and the pop megastar obviously put a lot of thought into who she would spill to in her first televised interview since the tragic death of her brother Michael nearly five months ago….

Nov 20, 2009

What is Oprah–and the ABC O&Os That Carry Her Show–Going to Do?

[NOTE: I wrote this piece on 11/6, speculating about what Oprah might do. Last night she made her much anticipated announcement that she’ll be leaving her current show in Sept. 2011. Over the weekend, after hearing what Oprah has to…

Nov 6, 2009