Dan Rather has made quite a mess for himself lately, what with his recent comments about the degeneration of CBS' primetime network news broadcast, the awkward potshots directed at Les Moonves, and the highly controversial remarks that may or may not have been targeted at third-place news anchor, Katie Couric.
Fortunately, despite taking on the network bigshots, Rather still has his supporters. Like, for instance, former CBS News reporter Terry Smith, who appeared on CNN's Reliable Source this Sunday to defend Rather's use of the phrase "tarting it up."
"CBS Evening News executive producer Rick Kaplan is mad as hell at Dan Rather," writes recent birthday boy Roger Friedman, who claims not to read us while mimicking our ledes. CONTINUED »
After having some time to reflect, retired anchorman Dan Rather has concluded that, in retrospect, he probably should not have arbitrarily started a crazy shitshow feud with CBS corporate chief, Les Moonves.
"It may not have been the wisest thing I've done this week," Dan Rather joked yesterday by phone from his office in New York.
Nevertheless, Rather claims his "tarting it up" remark had more to do with "embarrassingly antiquated slang" than gender bias, he still contends that the current CBS Evening News broadcast leaves something to be desired.
Les Moonves is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. The CBS chief is firing back – if "speaking generally" can qualify as such – at former newsman Dan Rather, who spent yesterday morning pile-driving Katie Couric and her news broadcast. CONTINUED »
While he feels no sorrow over firing Tom Freston, Viacom chieftan Sumner Redstone is picking out friendship bracelets for Les Moonves, who he's said to be very happy with how he's running things at CBS.
"I could not be any more pleased with everything that Les and his team have achieved," Redstone, who is chairman and controlling shareholder of both Viacom and CBS, gushed to Wall Street analysts yesterday on a conference call to discuss CBS' quarterly results. "In Les we have the best executive in the media industry."
Ah hah! So that's how one fawns over their top underlings at CBS. Because for a minute there, we thought throwing them under a moving bus, driven by a drunk Mel Gibson, was the way things were done.
When it comes to Katie Couric, CBS's official line is "While CBS News ratings are up, NBC and ABC ratings are down." Technically, when CBS spokesman Gil Schwartz points out the numbers – CBS is up 8 percent from this time last year, with 7.4 million viewers, while NBC is down 8 percent (to 8.5m) and ABC down 5 percent (to 7.9m) – he's right. But that still leaves Couric dragging in third place, and more than a few CBS insiders have declared the $45 million investment in the former Today show host a flop.
But what about the investment in PR chief Schwartz (aka Fortune columnist Stanley Bing)? Schwartz – who's held his job in one form or another since 1994 and reports directly to Les Moonves – continues to draw ire from industry insiders. It was only Monday night, at Broadcasting & Cable's Hall of Fame Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria, that many a mouth were wagging about his current Katie Couric tragedy. And this time, it wasn't just about the slimmed down photo than ran in the CBS promotions magazine Schwartz oversees.
Nobody can quite figure out how Gil has managed to bungle Katie Couric's rep so badly. While the numbers may do the talking, Schwartz should be doing the spinning — and NBC's Jeff Zucker has given him the perfect platform. The GE-mandated 700 job cuts at NBC Universal is, one would think, the perfect platform to cast the network TV spotlight entirely on the Peacock's problems. But Gil hasn't managed to do much of that, evidenced by the continued hounding of Couric. On the attack: USA Today's Peter Johnson, Matt Drudge, the Los Angeles Times, Broadcasting & Cable's Andrew Tyndall, the New York Times, Newday's Verne Gay, and the New York Post's Page Six all raking Katie over the ratings coals. NBC's press coverage, meanwhile, remains plenty anti-Zucker, but sometimes apologistic.
And it's not just the random hacks in the TV news business kivetching: We hear Katie herself is fuming over Schwartz's inabilities to put the spin in her favor. Not one to befriend a network's PR team, Katie already has Freud PR chief powerhouse Matt Hiltzik on her roster. And (indirectly) taking Katie's side is former CBS head Andrew Heyward. Speaking to The Strategist's John Elsasser:
In the frenzy that erupted, you, along with many of your colleagues at CBS, found yourself in the media’s crosshairs. How did you deal with being part of this media onslaught? What can PR professionals learn from your experiences?
Heyward: First of all, I think we handled the aftermath poorly and exacerbated the problem. There are lots of lessons there for PR professionals. In retrospect, they seem so obvious: Be quick to recognize not only that there is a problem but also the magnitude of the problem; be quick to address it, not only with the outside world but also with your own colleagues; and be open-minded about what your critics are saying. At the beginning, it might have been a commendable instinct to stand by your colleagues, [but] loyalty . . . should have been balanced more effectively and quickly with the responsibility to get to the bottom of the criticism and find out what had really happened and whether we had, in fact, fallen short in our reporting — which we had. That took way too long, and that was partly because we were too busy fending off attacks and had placed too much faith in colleagues based on their track records as opposed to the evidence that was before us.
It was only 2004 when Gil's head was rumored to be on the chopping block after his continued follies advising Heyward on how to handle the Dan Rather fall out. And you know what happened there. Unfortunate for CBS and Katie Couric, it sounds like Les Moonves doesn't know what's happening here. "I like Gil, he's a nice guy," a senior level CBS insider tells us. "But he's a disaster."
A week after the axing of Les Moonves' chief nemesis, Viacom head Tom Freston, the CBS president is sitting pretty. Sumner Redstone, the ancient master of CBS/Viacom, was the one who took the axe to Redstone's well-documented departure from the building. And Moonves couldn't be happier.
Since nabbing Katie Couric to anchor Eyewitness News, lining up a new season of television programming, and appealing to the Wall Street crowd, Moonves is becoming network television's next up-and-coming mogul. But he's not going to get too confident just yet.
Mr. Moonves is too savvy a political player to show even a hint of schadenfreude over the ouster of Mr. Freston. But in an interview late last week, he allowed himself to gloat a little about CBS’s current status.
“I am like: ‘O.K., bring it on and let the games begin,’ ’’ said the tanned, trim 56-year-old executive. “We are extremely pleased about Katie,” he said, though he was quick to add: “Don’t declare victory. Wait a couple of weeks.”
To say, "wait a couple weeks" is gloating? Sounds pretty modest to us. Then again, most tan and trimmed older dudes in expensive suits and big offices seem like they're gloating about something. Most of the time, anyways.
A Tortoise Savors the Lead [Geraldine Fabrikant and Bill Carter, New York Times]
At last night's upfronts presentation at Carnegie Hall, CBS threw up a surprise guest. Miss Katie Couric took the stage with Les Moonves to promote her new gig as the anchor of CBS News.
"Katie thought it would be odd to not make a brief appearance," said her spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik. "NBC was informed of her intentions, and she did not receive any objection."
And had they objected, Katie would have made NBC pay by spending 10 minutes of the Today show spewing a pointless random monologue on difference between bootlegs and flares.
Couric helps out CBS [Matea Gold, Los Angeles Times]
310,000 viewers may seem like a lot, but in the world of nightly news, any number under a million in minuscule. (This also may seem like very boring news, but waiting for the Ellie winners to be announced is the most excruciating media event ever.)
So we have to give a little shout out to Les Moonves and CBS news for finishing sweeps week less behind ABC than last year.
The CBS EVENING NEWS WITH BOB SCHIEFFER finished the week of May 1 only 310,000 viewers behind ABC’s “World News Tonight,†narrowing the gap with ABC by 1.64 million viewers and with NBC’s “Nightly News†by 1.03 million viewers compared to the same week last year.
Yeah, we probably should give props to Bob Schieffer, too, but we just think everyone is practicing flipping to CBS in preparation for Katie Couric's big debut.
'CBS EVENING NEWS' ONLY 310,000 VIEWERS BEHIND ABC 'WORLD NEWS TONIGHT' [Drudge Report]
Yes, Katie Couric is set bring some celeb sparkle to the dull world of CBS. And joining her in this famous newscaster flight to CBS is CNN's dreamboat reporter Anderson Cooper.
While it's unconfirmed by reps as of now, Michael Starr has the exclusive on Coopster's new gig as "occasional reporter" to 60 Minutes.
Cooper will stay at CNN as the host of "Anderson Cooper 360" and will contribute occasional reports to "60 Minutes" - which will also air on Cooper's show.
It will be the second time the networks have shared on-air talent. Cooper's CNN stablemate, Christiane Amanpour, contributed to "60 Minutes" for several years.
We don't what kind of money Les Moonves is throwing around, but he sure is pulling some price strings of late. If they ever get Couric and Cooper side by side at the anchor desk we might actually have to watch CBS.
COOPER JOINS '60 MINUTES' [Michael Starr, New York Post]
We've been dipping our aching feet into the weatherman scene lately. And today, while the sun may be shining bright outside, things are getting gloomy within the confines of, well, this post.
Last we relayed, WABC 7 weatherman Sam Champion could allegedly be seen hand-in-hand (at church, no less) with Sean Bell, who may or may not be an online escort available on Manhunt.net. (Sam and Sean's attorney, meanwhile, argues to us that Bell is not for sale on Manhunt.) We'll get to the latest details on that sordid relationship in a moment, but first let's use Sam Champion as a jumping off point to get to some media news you might actually be interested in.
With Al Roker standing firm at NBC's Today, we've only got the weather crew at ABC's Good Morning America and CBS's The Early Show to toy with. So, why don't we?
We're hearing that The Early Show's professional map pointer (since July '03) Dave Price, who holds down the local and national gig, is making an exit from Les Moonves' house and heading over to GMA. Les, try as he might to hang on to Price, is said to be fighting a losing battle; Price has nearly signed with GMA.
So where does the blonde-locked Sam Champion fall into this? We're told he was his own biggest lobbiest for the Good Morning America job, even taking to Larry King's airwaves to make his cause. But Mr. Champion's, ahem, "'lifestyle' is too apparent on television and won't carry well on national TV to homes across America," says our tattler.
Meanwhile, over in the blissful gayborhood that Sam and Sean Bell live in, we hear from another well-placed source that New York's most loved weather fella is getting Kevin Federlined. Those details, after the jump.
CONTINUED »
When he's not obsessing over bird flu, mad cow disease, or chronicling the administration, Matt Drudge busies himself with collecting insider media news.
Today, he reports that CBS President Les Moonves absolutely wants Katie Couric to anchor the CBS evening news. But, not everyone is cheering like a frozen Today Show fan.
• "Politely put, it's just not there," warned a top CBS suit, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
• "Look, why do you think NBC passed her over for Brian Williams? They can say she was worth more to them in the mornings, but I really think it came down to how she came off in the [anchor] chair.
• "She is not identified with CBS, and she is not identified with 'news'… it will be an uphill challenge for her here. Maybe Les will have her doing the news on a couch."
They forgot the fact that she's a flippant airhead. But, Les doesn't really mind. According to Drudgie, he is "fully prepared to offer Couric the anchor chair at CBS, plus a rotating seat at 60 Minutes. Wowsah, we were not expecting that one.
But look, everybody. CBS is 600,000 viewers away from catching and passing ABC, and Moonves will whore out whoever he has to in order for that to happen, ok?. So take off your "I hate Les Moonves" t-shirts, shut your mouths, and start preparing your I heart Katie posters.
HOUSE DIVIDED: CBS NEWS STAFF SPLIT ON KATIE COURIC AS ANCHOR [Drudge Report]
• What does it take to make a spectacular student newspaper? A belief in first amendment rights and a subscription to TimesSelect. (Ok, we threw in that last part.) [NYT]
• Some New York Times editors go to The Atlantic. Others take the scenic route. [WWD]
• Advice from Jack Shafer to James Bennet: stay up late. Well, at least it's better than Bill Keller's advice: get on that invisible masthead. [Slate]
• Howard Stern, always the mature, classy guy he's known to be, launches an "I Hate Les Moonves" tour. Which in turn inspired Lindsay Lohan to launch her, "I'll take my clothes off for an Oscar" campaign. [NYP]
• Now we know why Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are so damn funny. They warm up by ripping on their scooter-riding executive producer before every show. [Fishbowl NY]
• Total turmoil over at QTN (Queer Television Network). Enter President Lloyd Fan, exit founder Frank Lloyd — and entire management team. [C21]
• Maybe the The Economist's next study will be on The Economist's fleeing employees Bill Emmott and Beth O’Rorke. [MIN]
• So, Les Moonves didn't know he was paying for Sirius Satellite's advertisements? Was he simply not listening to Howard Stern's show? [NYT]
• MSLO scraps its kids publication. We hope this won't in anyway affect the much anticipated Blue Print. (Well, something needs to fill the Budget Living whole in our hearts.) [Media Week]
• Is Nancy Grace the televised version of faux memoirist James Frey? [NYO]
• Uh-oh, Donald Trump's ratings hit an all-time low. See what happens when you piss off the Martha? [FOX]
• Rupert Murdoch brings the New York Post to Boston, but snubs his old Herald pal Pat Purcell, and goes for the Globe. [Boston Globe]
• Wow, a biography of Condi Rice? Elisabeth Bumiller should write a guide on how not to end up on the Best Sellers list. [NYO]
• How fun would it be to throw Donald Trump into the Les Moonves vs. Howard Stern brawl? [Page Six]
• Orioles pitcher Kris Benson sells his wife to FHM. [Mediaweek]
• In the economics of magazine exchange rates, three years of Blender equals one year of Cargo. We wonder how many Details you need to make a GQ? Like, 3.75, maybe? [Ad Age]
• We didn't believe anyone wanted it at first, either, but, Keith Kelly’s “exclusive†of the day tells us what we already know. One last time, everybody, Hartle Media bought Spin. [NYP]
• Franklin Foer somehow managed to change jobs without loosing any blood. Amazing, because he seems kind of like a guy who would get punched in the face a lot. [NYT]
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