A Little Of The Old In And Out



(image via nydailynews)

In: Michael Bloomberg. Newspapers are the new black. Embattled, billionaires are now looking to up their prestige factor by snagging some ink. Could the media-mogul NYC mayor -- fresh off his thwarted Sheekey-run for the Presidency -- be in line to acquire the crown jewel of publishing? Bloomberg has already told Charlie Rose that he is interested in pursuing philanthropy after his term expires, is the Gray Lady that charity? From Newsweek:

"Not since William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal challenged Joseph Pulitzer's New York World in the late 19th century has there been such a clash of newspaper titans. As was the case when Hearst took on Pulitzer, Murdoch—the son of an Australian journalist—still believes newspapers are the most influential media for shaping the public discourse, even in this new-media century. The fight could escalate in unknown ways if billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ends up acquiring the Times. As NEWSWEEK has learned, top associates of the onetime information executive are encouraging him to do just that."

(image via wgmd)

Out: Clintonian Tactics. Michael Moore has blasted the way the Senator has run her race. And, as everything in this election, Moore's remarks are gathering heated response. But he's not the only one: Senator Ted Kennedy, enraged at the filthy racialism injected into Bill Clinton's ghettoization attempt after the South Carolina primary, embraced the Obama campaign. And in this weekend's devastating New York Times article on how "Friends-of-Bill" are migrating in these last days:

"Perhaps most painful among Clintonites are the lower-profile defections. They are the losses of former supporters like (Nancy) Larson, people who revered the Clintons in the 1990s and still regard them highly. Both Mr. and Mrs. Clinton called Mrs. Larson on her cellphone earlier this year, telling her how much they needed her. Mrs. Larson even declared her support for Mrs. Clinton in mid-January.

"But then the race got nasty in South Carolina, and Mr. Obama started winning and Mrs. Larson started reconsidering. 'There was something about Senator Obama that I found really fresh and exciting,' she said. 'I like how positive he has been.' She also spoke of 'the destructive negativity' of the Clinton campaign.

"Then Chelsea Clinton called a second time, last Saturday night, and kept asking 'why?'

"'I didn’t want to get into my reasons,' Mrs. Larson said. 'I just told her it was something I had to do.'"

In: The Colbert Report. The whole Pennsylvania promotion thing worked. Colbert and Jon Stewart and Chris Matthews actually do better, it seems, when they travel on location. Just watching the energy levels of those college kids and anxious voters bears this out. Now so do the ratings. From The New York Post:

"Forget the VH1 show title - last week was Stephen Colbert's 'Best Week Ever.' Comedy Central's 'Colbert Report,' going on location for its first time (to Philadelphia), averaged 1.5 million viewers - a new series record - and also shattered records in men 18-34 and persons 18-49."

(image via politico)

Out: The Debt/Credit Crisis. We observed the credit crisis firsthand reporting on the media for FishbowlNY. Barry Diller, last July, was the first media mogul "pinched" by the crisis. Since then it has been a roller-coaster, mostly in the downward spiral. Barry Gewen reviews Kevin Phillips' new book -- a sober analysis of the debt crisis -- in the NYTBR:

"The 1980s were the start of 'three profligate decades,' when the expansion of mortgage credit and the invention of financial instruments like collateralized debt obligations (C.D.O.’s) led to an orgy of leveraging and irresponsible speculation. The Federal Reserve kept the bubble afloat with easy money, while regulators and ratings agencies looked the other way.

"By 2007 total indebtedness was three times the size of the gross domestic product, a ratio that surpassed the record set in the years of the Great Depression. From 2001 to 2007 alone, domestic financial debt grew to $14.5 trillion from $8.5 trillion, and home mortgage debt ballooned to almost $10 trillion from $4.9 trillion, an increase of 102 percent. A crisis in the mortgage market in August 2007 brought the party to an end. Since then we have been living in a twilight zone of what a security analyst quoted in the book calls 'one of the slowest-moving train wrecks we’ve seen.'"

Swell. More here.



(image via televisioncity)

In: Teens And Soap Operas. And how have soap operas fared in this multimedia universe? Peopled by characters salaciously named "Thorne" and ... "Brooke." Who among us has time for all those baroque soap opera faces -- to wit: "Hasselhoff's Goddam Cleft Chin" -- with all the election drama and the myriad awesometastic cable show that didn't exist a decade ago. Teens, apparently; cause viewership is up -- at CBS, at least. From Media Life Magazine:

"A big reason for the CBS soaps’ increase seems to be that the network is doing a good job targeting younger viewers through stunt casting, outside tie-ins and relevant storylines.

"CBS has recruited personalities known to 12-17s who wouldn’t seem a natural fit for daytime, like former 'American Idol' contestants Constantine Maroulis and Elliott Yamin on 'Bold' and, most recently, Kathy Hilton, mom of heiress and tabloid queen Paris, who will appear in the May 13 'Restless.'

"The network also recently engineered a smart tie-in with sister broadcaster the CW. Contestants on the latter’s 'Beauty and the Geek' reality show paid a visit to the 'Restless' set, where actors on the show evaluated contestants in an acting contest."