media

Our National Attention Span Reaching Crisis-Level Brevity

Pareene · 06/26/09 11:10AM

Farrah Fawcett, David Carradine, and Ed McMahon all just died. Oh, and Michael Jackson. Oh, and the Governor of South Carolina admitted to cheating on his wife. As did Senator John Ensign. And something about Iran?

Today's Papers Cover the Death of Michael Jackson

The Cajun Boy · 06/26/09 06:14AM

Today will be a big day for newspapers as millions of people who normally wouldn't purchase a newspaper will flock to newsstands to buy a copy to commemorate the passing of an icon. Here's a sampling of today's newspaper covers.

ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson

The Cajun Boy · 06/25/09 09:06PM

Entertainment Tonight's website published a photo of Michael Jackson being wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher under the headline "Exclusive Last Photo." The photo is now all over the net and was even displayed during CNN's coverage tonight.

Farrah, Late Night Ratings & Anderson's Mea Culpa

cityfile · 06/25/09 12:55PM

• ABC and NBC will face off on Thursday night with competing tributes to Farrah Fawcett, who died today. But you probably expected that, no? [NYT]
David Letterman beat out Conan in the ratings last week, the first time the Late Show has dominated the weekly ratings since 2005. [THR]
Rosie O'Donnell will debut a new show on Sirius XM this fall. [NYDN]
• Rumor has it Ben Silverman's tenure at NBC may be ending soon. [DHD]
• Fox News now averages the same number of viewers as CNN, MSNBC, and HLN combined. Cue an evil grin across Roger Ailes's face. [THR]
Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson's new book contains material he ripped from Wikipedia. But he's really, really sorry about it, okay? [NYP]

New Trial For Anna Politkovskaya's Accused Killers

Hamilton Nolan · 06/25/09 12:46PM

In your breakthrough Thursday media column: a new trial for a Russian journalist's murder, a mini-Jayson Blair at a college paper, Steven Brill's optimistic projections, and Boston Globe staffers are unhappy with their lot in life.

'Anderson Cooper's Big Fat Coming Out Party' (Updated)

Hamilton Nolan · 06/25/09 09:28AM

What will Anderson Cooper be doing tonight? Unvogue Magazine says he'll be attending a party at the Sapphire Go-Go Lounge for their men's issue. It's been informally dubbed "Anderson Cooper's Big Fat Coming Out Party." [UPDATED: AC's denial below]:

The Times, The Oscars & The Facebook Movie

cityfile · 06/24/09 12:11PM

• New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson "isn't happy with the media." She'd also like to make it clear that the company is not currently up for sale, so please put your dollar bills back in your wallet, thank you very much. [MW]
• Ten movies will compete for Best Picture at the Oscars now, not 5. [THR]
• Sad: Dick Cheney landed a $2 million deal to publish his memoir. [NYT]
• Also sad: MSNBC, the illustrious home of blowhard Keith Olbermann, seems to think its tired prison docs are more important than covering Iran. [LAT]
• Director David Fincher is in talks to make a movie about Facebook. [Reuters]
• The always classy In Touch spent $75,000 to purchase photos of Kate Gosselin spanking her kids in public for its cover last week. [WWD, NYP]

Successful Writer Feels Not So Successful

Hamilton Nolan · 06/23/09 12:51PM

In your perennial Tuesday media column: It still sucks to be a writer, sucks if you bought a newspaper, sucks to make stock picks, sucks to produce news on television, and somebody got a new job!

Network News Declines, TLC's Big Night, MySpace Cuts

cityfile · 06/23/09 12:27PM

• The bleak outlook for network news is getting bleaker: Both the CBS Evening News and ABC's World News suffered all-time ratings lows last week. [HuffPo]
• CBS chief Les Moonves's compensation was slashed by 76 percent last year. He still earned $13.6 million, though, so don't feel too bad for him. [Crain's]
• Depressing: Monday's breakup episode of TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8 was the most-watched episode of the show ever with 10.6 million viewers. [THR]
• MySpace is closing four of its international offices and cutting two-thirds of its staff abroad advertising falls and Facebook and Twitter take over. [NYT]
• A woman in Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against Elisabeth Hasselbeck for allegedly ripping off her self-published book on celiac disease. [BH]
• Bravo honcho Andy Cohen is going to be hosting a live show once a week called Watch What Happens. You can watch what happens on July 16. [LAT]

The Persistent Failure of Steven Brill

Hamilton Nolan · 06/23/09 10:06AM

Steven Brill has a reputation for being a media wise man—a deep-thinking mogul who's always spotting the opportunities of The Future. Which is kind of strange, since the majority of his projects have been ostentatious failures.