It's official:
Amanpour joins ABC News
Other shorts: Slate's Kinsley honored at Digital Ellies
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Mar 19, 2010
It's official: Amanpour joins ABC News
After days of speculation, ABC officially named CNN international correspondent Christiane Amanpour the new host of the Sunday morning talk show "This Week" yesterday, drawing to a close months of speculation over who would succeed George Stephanopoulos, who moved to "Good Morning America" in December. Amanpour is expected to make some major changes to the show, which had a decidedly domestic flavor under its former host, a one-time aide to President Bill Clinton. In announcing Amanpour's hire yesterday, ABC News said that "Week" would take on a more global perspective, setting it apart from rivals "Meet the Press" on NBC and "Face the Nation" on CBS, at a time when "Week" has fallen from second to third in viewership. Amanpour is one of CNN's better-known correspondents and will bring the sort of star power ABC wanted in the position. The network also reportedly talked to former "Nightline" anchor Ted Koppel about the job. Still, some at ABC were questioning just how much star power is necessary for a network that's in the midst of cutting hundreds of jobs to save money -- in other words, just how much money did ABC throw at Amanpour to get her to leave ABC after two seemingly happy decades? Right now neither side is saying.
Slate's Kinsley honored at first Digital Ellies
Up to this year, digital media trophies had been given as part of the National Magazine Awards. But in a measure of how important digital has become to magazines, the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Journalism School at Columbia sponsored the very first NMA for Digital Media ceremony yesterday. New York and National Geographic tied for most awards with two apiece. New York won for general excellence and multimedia feature or package, while National Geographic took home awards for photography and community, a melding of interactive technology and social media. Michael Kinsley, founding editor of slate, became the first digital media star to be inducted into the Magazine Editors Hall of Fame. Other winners included Foreign Policy for blogging, Virginia Quarterly Review for news reporting, Tablet for podcasting, Epicurious for mobile media and Men's Health for interactive tool. Find the complete list of winners here: http://www.magazine.org/asme/about_asme/asme_press_releases/nma-digital-2010-winners-release.aspx.
Bum Rush: Dittoheads inundate Capitol phones
Want to put a number on the power of Rush, as in Rush Limbaugh, the syndicated talker whose followers are often referred to as dittoheads? How about 40,000, as in 40,000 calls per hour being answered by Congressional switchboard operators after Limbaugh ordered his listeners to call in to voice their opposition to the health care bill being pushed by President Barack Obama. The Hill reports that switchboards were stretched to their limits Tuesday after Limbaugh began issuing his appeal on his radio show, which he's repeated in the days since. The host helpfully posted the switchboard number on his web site to encourage the call-ins. An increase in lawmakers' email volume has also been reported, with Limbaugh urging listeners to send those as well. The switchboard's burden wasn't helped on Wednesday, when Obama himself sent an email to supporters urging them to call their local lawmakers in support of the bill. Meanwhile, Limbaugh continues to beat the drum against reform. As he said on his show Wednesday, the reform push "makes Watergate look like Romper Room."
Programming notes: Bidding war for Palin show
There could soon be a bidding war for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s reality TV project. Produced by Mark Burnett and tentatively titled “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” the show is drawing interest from both A&E Networks and Discovery Communications. The program shows the former vice presidential candidate giving a tour of her home state. Palin and Burnett first pitched the show to broadcast networks, who did not bite, and are apparently looking for $1 million to $1.5 million per episode, a high amount for a first-year cable program. Meanwhile, in other programming, New York cable sports network MSG plans to air the March 24 NHL game between the New York Rangers and New York Islanders in 3D, making it available in homes with 3D TVs. It's the first NHL game broadcast in 3D. The telecast will act as a test run and will air without advertising. On April 18, WGN plans to premiere “Chicago’s Best,” a food and lifestyle show hosted by Ted Brunson. The series will air on Sundays at 10 p.m. On April 20 Sundance Channel will roll out season two of “The Lazy Environmentalist,” in which viewers learn easy ways to live eco-friendly lifestyles. And on April 25 Animal Planet will premiere the seven-episode second season of “River Monsters,” which follows Jeremy Wade to rivers around the world.
Report: February snow sends TV viewing soaring
The storms that hammered the East Coast last month were an annoyance to commuters, schools and workplaces, but there’s at least one group who had reason to welcome the snow: daytime TV advertisers. On the day of the second big storm, Wednesday, Feb. 10, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., TV viewership in hard-hit cities Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., increased 82.6 percent over normal winter Wednesdays, according to analysis from the research department at agency Harmelin Media. The extra impressions in those four markets alone were valued at $6.2 million. “When a storm of this magnitude hits, people are glued to their television screens for forecasts, driving conditions and other vital news," Harmelin vice president of research Bernie Shimkus said in the study. “It was a lot of free eyeballs so to speak, and sought-after eyeballs at that.” That’s because traditional daytime viewers are mostly seniors and stay-at-home moms; during the storms the audiences more closely resembled primetime audiences, with men and young adults tuning in. Harmelin says on the following day, Feb. 11, viewership in those four markets was still up 50.8 percent versus the average, equaling $2.9 million worth of extra impressions.
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