If Cody Willard’s grandfather could see him now, he would not be proud. At least that’s what the Fox Business Network anchor fears.
Twice last night at the Fox Business Network launch party, inside the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Willard mentioned that his grandfather, who was a cowboy, would be disappointed in his grandson for needing make up before going on air. But what is Willard to do? As he said, “Fox Business causes bad skin.”
But the best way to spot a Fox Business Network anchor is not by blemishes, which were well-concealed, but lack of body fat. That, and every female Fox Business anchor we spoke to made a point of touching our arm during the conversation. It felt so intimate—like we were real friends! Perhaps it was to stay warm? Or a lesson they learned in refinery school? CONTINUED »
"A Perky Debut for the Fox Business Network!" proclaims Alessandra Stanley's in her correction-free evaluation of the news gals' first day on the job. Naturally, she's referring to the anchors' so-called "sunny dispositions," although, judging by their clingy, brightly colored news frocks (and pervy news prez, Roger Ailes) we're thinking the characterization works on many levels. [NYT]
Good news business programming lovers: Fox Business News starts today. And you what that means: A long piece in Fortune magazine.
Since it’s Monday and you’re busy looking at Facebook pictures from the weekend, here’s what you need to know:
• Small business owners are the target audience. And to appeal to them, FBN is running “Main Street” stories, like the cost of scalped tickets for a Hannah Montana concert. Because really, what else would the owner of a hardware store care about?
CONTINUED »
Yesterday, we told you about Roger Ailes preference for nubile CNBC anchors, and his concern that rising star Erin Burnett will burn herself out before usurping her in-network rival, Maria Bartiromo. And since Ailes makes no secret of his belief that female anchors should trade in on their looks before they age and become irrelevant, it comes as no surprise that Ailes' own network, Fox News is taking heat for its anchors' barely-there on-air wardrobe.
CHRISTIAN "media watchdog group" The Resistance is all worked up over the ultra-femme anchors of Fox News. The group's leader, Mark Dice, rants in an e-mail, "I see shorter skirts on the women of Fox News than I do on the prostitutes being arrested on cop shows."
Meanwhile, the ever apologetic Fox responded, "We're always flattered to have everyone talking about us in one form or another."
Totally. In fact, we're sure veteran journalists Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters and Katie Couric would all be extremely mollified by that sort of attention.
Rebecca Dana asks Roger Ailes if there's anyone from CNBC he'd like to hire for the Fox Business Network. His reply: "I'm the one who put Maria Bartiromo on the air. She's a fine talent. This new woman that they're overusing because she's on now 15 hours a day, Erin Burnett, is a good talent. But she's gonna age. She'll only last another year, the way they're working her. …So, I hope, at some point she steps up and says, 'I need water; I need a little break here.'"
What we've learned…after the jump.
Fox News chief Roger Ailes was Rudy Giuliani's media consultant for his first campaign for mayor in 1989. Giuliani performed Ailes' wedding ceremony and, in 1996, helped secure Fox News a cable station in NYC when Time Warner wanted none of it. In unrelated news, FNC has given Giuliani more airtime than any of his Republican presidential competitors. [NYT]
Always one to self-congratulate, Fox News tossed "fair," "balanced," and "and" to the wayside last night to throw itself a 10th anniversary bash. The red carpet was rolled out in front of headquarters at 1211 Sixth, and underneath a glammed-up tent Rupert Murdoch held court over minions Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Shep Smith, Bill Hemmer, Greta Van Susteren, Brit Hume, and Laurie Dhue. But there was more star wattage inside: Donald Trump, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki, Ann Coulter, Tiki Barber, and NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly all showed up to pay their respects. And so did we: Jossip loves a party that celebrates raping the competition into submission, so we grabbed photog Matthew Krautheim and hit the soiree. (Meanwhile, if there's a missing Fox News pillow, don't blame us.)
CONTINUED »
When Fox News' Roger Ailes commented that a particular network competitors spent "$20 million marketing a single star," it was more than speculated Ailes was taking a jab at shining CNN star Anderson Cooper.
Totally, not true said a CNN spokesperson. Major lie. False, inaccurate, just-plain-old-wrong.
"We have no idea where Mr. Ailes came up with that number, but here are some numbers that are accurate. So far in July 2006, Anderson Cooper 360 is up double digits in both total viewers and the key advertiser demo (up +45% in P2+ and up +57% in P25-54 [compared to July 2005]), while On the Record is down double digits versus a year ago (down -32% in P2+ and down -33% in P25-54)."
Because saying how much they do spend marketing Anderson Cooper would have been so much less effective in proving their point.
$20 Million To Hype Cooper? No Way [TV Newser, Mediabistro]
If there's one magazine you should pick up this week, it isn't Men's Vogue. Not that Jay Fielden's creation isn't worthy of your newsstand patronage, but, well, you should've bought it last week. This week is all about New York, which hits magazine racks touting its "Salary Guide" cover story.
Hundreds of salaries – supposedly accurate! – of New York's industry players are revealed, from the movie and film biz to media and (gasp) bloggers and (double gasp) porn moguls.
Rather than scroll through the whole list, we've put together the most satisfying comparisons for your cable news media-sized attention span.
• Brian Williams, Anchor, NBC Nightly News ($4 million) vs. Anderson Cooper, Host, Anderson Cooper 360 ($2 million) vs. Pat Kiernan, Anchor, NY1 ($200,000)
• Roger Ailes, Chairman, Fox News Channel ($7.1 million) vs. Andrew Heyward, President, CBS News ($1.5 million)
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Actor, Jarhead ($3 million) vs. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Actress, upcoming untitled Oliver Stone 9/11 film ($500,000)
• 50 Cent, Rapper, hyphenate ($50 million) vs. George M., Street musician, Astor Place subway station ($16,800)
• Martha Stewart, TV Star ($9.6 million) vs. Susan Lyne, CEO and president, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia ($4,714,469)
• Richard Johnson, “Page Six†gossip columnist ($300,000) vs. Jim Romenesko, Blogger, the Poynter Institute ($169,187) vs. Jessica Coen, Blogger, Gawker.com ($30,000)
• Bonnie Fuller, Editorial director, American Media ($1,574,851) vs. Janice Min, Editor, Us Weekly ($1.2 million)
• Russell Simmons, Founder, Phat Farm (from the sale of Phat Farm alone) ($119 million) vs. Kimora Lee Simmons, Creative director, Baby Phat ($17 million)
And just when you thought listicles were going out of industry fashion.
• While Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter has been stepping out from Fashion Week, new wife Anna Carter has been spotted front row everywhere from Oscar to Marc, though she's not working for the mag. Meanwhile, Graydon and Anna planned on going to Diane Von Furstenberg's show on Sunday, but just like Anna Wintour, they had U.S. Open tix.
• Time Warner is looking to unload a portion of its AOL unit to Microsoft, combining the ISP and instant messaging operations with MSN to create something fierce for Google to deal with.
• Fox News prez Roger Ailes isn't President Bush's bitch. He's President Bush's bitch Rupert Murdoch's bitch.
• Details publisher of 17 months Chris Mitchell is leaving behind Daniel Peres' gay vague title for the even gayer vaguer world of furniture design.
• Note to self: Writing a column calling for Arabs to be "stripped naked and cavity-searched if they get within 100 yards of an airport" might cost you your cushy student newspaper gig.
Surely spending a week's holiday on Nantucket must be tied to CNN president Jonathan Klein's non-tabloid-y agenda. Otherwise, we're going to have to add him to the list of Condoleeza Rices and Dick Cheneys.
Even after Hurricane Katrina struck the Southeast, Klein went ahead with plans to take his family for the island getaway — though, of course, "Jon was in constant contact with his deputies and CNN the entire time."
Meanwhile, Fox News prez Roger Ailes wasn't about to let this ratings guanantor to slip through his hands. He canceled his vacay to be on hand for the round-the-clock coverage. Which, dare we say it, in some sick way lends a little respect to the F&B network.
Now that Lachlan Murdoch is back in Australia with plenty of Vegemite, daddy Rupert's News Corp. is busy restructuring itself to fill the empty gaps.
Whereas Lachlan was set to become chairman of Fox Television Stations, Fox darling Roger Ailes instead took over the position, which gives him control of 35 channels and production studio Twentieth Television.
Already the rumors are swirling as to where Ailes might take the TV unit. Will there be a station-wide morning show? Will they launch a competing late show? Will Ailes' second assistant's assistant get an intern?
Only Ailes (and God, sometimes referred to as Rupert) might know. So how did Ailes respond to the news?
"What appeals to me is News Corp. itself," he said. "This is the greatest media company in the history of the country, probably."
Obviously he's never heard of E.W. Scripps. And neither have we.
Editorial Director
