TV+News+Update+4


 * “Koppel Joins NBC’s ‘RockCenter With Brian Williams” **

This //New York Times// article by Bill Carter shows that NBC has integrated Ted Koppel into their list of correspondents for a coming prime-time television news magazine of NBC titled, “Rock Center With Brian Williams.” Ted Koppel has been a journalist for more than 40 years, and is one of the historic television news industry individuals. Ted Koppel is mostly remembered by hosting “Nightline” of ABC for approximately 25 years. This is important for the reason that NBC will benefit in this particular matter by having the experience and knowledge of Mr. Koppel that could have a positive impact on the television news industry in terms of enhancing credibility with individuals like Mr. Koppel. It would most likely tend to bring more credibility and audience to the NBC program due to the fact that the reputation and image that the public has of Mr. Koppel is very positive. This is also important, because the various television news media organizations need to have more reliable and savvy journalists working and appearing on air that could potentially boost the ratings of your television news media organization type of programming. It all comes back to the television industry dissemination of news. For example, Brian Williams from NBC said that “Mr. Koppel is without any doubt a consensus hall of famer.” This demonstrates that the television news industry may have a “solution” to the problem of declining ratings, thus in audience. For example, if historic individuals like Larry King and Tom Brokaw were to return to the television news industry, and be on programs that have a “format that is good, real, hard journalism,” it would surely attract the lost viewers that the television news industry has been seeing in the past two decades. As Brian Williams said, “we intend to be the new home of quality journalism on a weekly basis, and on the web at all times.” Hopefully, this is true for the reason that the television news industry needs this type of journalism in order to attract the public. For the most part, strong journalism qualities like those of Ted Koppel tend to reflect positive results in television news programming. This is expected for the upcoming NBC’s prime-time news magazine program, which will start airing on Monday, October 31st at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Therefore, it all comes down to the need for the television news industry needing these types of programs that are news worthy and informative towards the public. It could very well be a potential model for the television news industry to adopt as a means to disseminate news information, especially on the difficult times that the television news industry is currently experiencing. [|New York Times article] Manuel Martinez-Ortega


 * MSNBC changes line up to increase ratings**

MSNBC announced it will make major changes to it's news program lineup in order to increase their ratings. "The Ed Show" will be moved to prime time slot at 8 pm while "the Last word' with O'Donell's will be moved to 10 p.m. Rachel Maddow, who is the highest-rated host will keep her spot at 9 p.m. The changes are intended to "strengthen the flow of our programming throughout the evening", explained MSNBC president Phil Griffin. The change is also caused by the low ratings of O'Donell, by sending him to the 10 pm time slot he losses a full day of programming because MSNBC does not air news programming on Fridays. The change is a promotion to Schultz who will now air at the same time that Bill O'Reilly and Anderson Cooper. MSNBC is trying to retain it's audience and compete with CNN's and Fox's ratings. This incident reminds me when Jay Leno was moved from his original time slot and it was worst because ratings decreased and the network was very criticized with the Leno -O' Brian ratings feud.

[|MSNBC Lineup Changes Article]

Paola Cuevas

**Occupy Wall Street Starting to Alter the Media Narrative**



By now, most Americans are familiar with the peaceful Occupy Wall Street demonstrations taking place in over 70 major cities across the United States, but it hasn't been an easy task getting the media to take notice about the growing problem of income inequality and the alarming unemployment rate in our nation. A study from July of this year conducted by ThinkProgress found the media to be largely ignoring the issue of American jobs, mentioning the country's national debt a staggering 100 times more than the word "unemployed." The news media clearly has been ignoring the issue, and that's what these demonstrations are all about. The goal of the protestors is to get noticed by the media in order to cover what is really happening in the people's lives, hopefully promoting change, as the top 1% of the nation controls a large percentage of the wealth while the other 99% of people own more debt than actual money, hence the nickname "The 99 Percent Movement." Regarding an excuse for the lack of news coverage, one member of the media offered an explanation that is best summed up:

//**"If lawmakers aren't doing anything to fix unemployment, it's hard to make a story out of it, and we're not willing to try."** // Why haven't policymakers taken action against the growing social and economic issues of our nation? Many believe policymakers are unaware due to the lack of news coverage failing to properly address the unemployment crisis, therefore we have both sources of the problem pointing the finger at the other. The news media blames the policymakers, and the policymakers don't realize the problem because of the news media is failing to report it to them. Occupy Wall Street has been successful in that it has changed the topic of discussion in the media, with "Occupy Wall Street" and "Jobs" dominating the television news airwaves according to a recently conducted ThinkProgress study. Now that the 99% are being noticed by the media, will the policymakers take notice as well? That remains to be seen, but at least the media doesn't have to worry about taking sole responsibility for our nation's unemployment crisis any longer. Will these protests cause a significant change for American jobs and create a movement toward income equality? Only time will tell, but now that we have the media's attention, you can expect progress to be made.

Occupy Wall Street Is Starting To Alter The Media Narrative

By **Josh** **French**

**“Americans Spending More Time Following The News”**
With how advanced modern has become, the average American, for the most part, has little excuse as to why they don’t stay updated with local and global news. Not only have we expanded from newspapers and radio to broadcast television, but now have access to seemingly endless Internet news websites, along with social networking websites such as Twitter, which provides a company’s “followers” snippets of a breaking news story. What may come as a surprise is that the cable television news industry still remains the top source for Americans to receive news. Before cable television, newspapers held this position as the main source for news, and this is partially because of recent online readership. In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center titled, “Americans Spending More Time Following The News: Ideological News Sources: Who Watches and Why,” it was reported that, “39% (of Americans) say they regularly get news from a cable channel.” (Pew Research Center 1). This, the Pew Research Center found, could be based on citizen’s liking to particular anchors, or the certain style a news station might portray. It was also concluded that the reason why television news ratings are higher than ever before is because more news audiences have become more politically opinionated in the past decade. “Ideology continues to be closely associated with people’s choice of certain news sources.” (Pew Research Center 1). Thus, news audiences vary nationally depending on whether or not an individual associates oneself with the Republican, Democrat, or other political party. With numerous news stations such as CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, there seems to be limitless amount of television news options for Americans to receive their daily dose of headlining news. [|Americans Spend More Time Following The News]

By: Laura Barrick

**Will Murdoch Survive the Shareholders Opinions?**
This week holds an important event for the media industry, including the television news industry, because the annual News Corporation shareholders meeting will be held at the Fox Studios, one of News Corp’s stations, in Los Angeles. Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corporation, a media conglomerate, will be giving shareholders the opportunity to speak to him directly about issues they may have. Many say this year’s gathering of the shareholders is going to be full of hostility due to the fact that they are going to address the Murdoch’s involvement with the alleged phone hacking scandal. Although the Murdoch family owns 40% of the company, which controls many news outlets, shareholders are still going to have the opportunity to vote on who should be the board members of the company. Tom Watson, the British Labour Party legislator, who was responsible for leading the scandals investigation states, “You can delegate power but not responsibility, and Rupert Murdoch for whatever reason has failed to put in corporate governance arrangements that prohibit crimes from being committed.” Watson’s feelings are shared with many on the shareholders, and approximately 30% of them are expected to vote against the Murdoch family still being on the board. Even though many are frustrated and disappointed with the recent allegations Murdoch has been accused of, News Corporation itself is thriving in this difficult media market today with its shares being up by 14 percent.

Rupert Murdoch has a very tight grip over the television news media, giving him the ability to decide the type of news and the way the news is provided to the public. Fox News has always been known as deeply conservative and sometimes labeled with having a certain agenda. If shareholders at the News Corporation meeting have the chance to overthrow Murdoch and his family members, and somehow gain access of being on the board, what does this mean for the television news industry? Will anything change in the way the news is presented to the public? I guess we will just have to wait and see for ourselves. By: Taylor Baresic [|Irate News Corp. Shareholders to Take Murdoch to the Woodshed]



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