Bill Hemmer is True To His School

The Cincinnati Enquirer and USA Today both note that Bill Hemmer is a still a true-blue--make that true-purple--Cincy homeboy, who wears a purple tie on every game-day Friday.

Sell Comcast!

Something weird is happening at Comcast--it'll be bad for Comcast shareholders, but good for Comcast shorters.

The cable giant seems poised to buy NBC-Universal, thus ending GE's long nightmare, but Comcast seems determined to recreate the nightmare at their shiny headquarters on Market Street in Philadelphia. How so? Comcast seems eager to recruit a crew of losers and castoffs to run the new content acquisition.

The biggest loser, as noted here at TCG yesterday, is Jeff (We're Number Four!) Zucker. It appears that he will still be heading up NBC-U when it becomes the new Comcast subsidiary.

And it also appears that Peter Chernin will play a major role, too; we see increasing signs of Comcast and Chernin snuggling up.

The Cable Gamer never had a terribly high impression of Chernin, through all the years that he was at the News Corporation. Yes, he got a great press, and during the time that he was negotiating on whether or not to stay at NWS, the papers were full of breathless insider-y reports, warning Rupert Murdoch what would happen if he let Precious Peter slip out the door. (No prize for figuring out where those reports came from.)

But was the loss of Chernin any great loss to Murdoch & Co.? Let's look at what's happened to NWS stock since Chernin's departure. (See graphic above, from Google Finance, showing the rise of NWS stock in recent months.) On his last day on the job, June 30, NWS stock was 11. Now it's almost 15. Obviously, other factors are involved, but just as obviously, NWS is doing fine without Chernin.

Still don't be surprised to see Chernin going to Comcast, in some senior capacity.

Also, don't be surprised if longtime Chernin lieutenant Gary Ginsberg ends up, too, at Comcast. He is the outgoing head of communications for News Corp.; he just announced that he is leaving NWS. Without plans, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

TCG claims no insider information, and has no position in Comcast stock. So there's no reason for anyone not to heed my friendly and dispassionate advice to fellow Cable Gamers: If this deal goes through, with this bunch at the top, Sell Comcast!

Obama Is Getting Used to This

"Obama Ends Idiotic War With Fox News, Will Do Interview"

That's the headline atop The Business Insider's Joe Weisenthal's "feud" update this morning.

So much for Anita Dunn's influence, even if she is still hanging around the White House, sucking up a few last meals at the White House mess. She will soon enough be left to make speeches to the Moveon crowd. That should be lucrative, albeit irrelevant.

Jeff Zucker Is Still Working. Go Figure.

Jeff Bercovici, always a Cable Game fave, asks some pointed questions. Mainly what does explain Jeff Zucker's grip on his job?

Anita Dunn's Next Move

Outgoing White House communications chief Anita Dunn is continuing her attacks on Fox News, taking them to "The Daily Show."

Indeed, she has escalated those attacks, by assuring Jon Stewart that the White House was fully apprized of her actions: “I am not a person who is known for going rogue.” To which the White House must be thinking, "Thanks a lot, Anita. You just threw all of us under the bus." That is, Dunn wants the world to know that she was just following orders when she put the hit on Fox, or at least was part of a consensus within the West Wing. But now, Dunn is leaving, while her White House colleagues are left holding the bag for a disastrous media offensive that blew up in the Obamans' collective face.

It will be interesting to see what Dunn does next. I know that the spin is that she wants to spend more time with her family, but it looks more like she was invited to leave, a month ahead of the announced schedule. Don't be surprised if she goes on tour, taking her media-bashing act on the road.

Shepard Smith: Ten Years In The Spotlight

Howard Kurtz published a fascinating update on Shep Smith this morning, taking note of Shep's 10 years in the anchorman post--a period during which his show has been mostly # in his timeslot.

Here's the good stuff:

Seated in his Sixth Avenue office with an erect posture that matches his caffeinated style, Smith says he was unaware that correspondent Shannon Bream had grabbed Christie on the fly. "I came off looking condescending," he says. "I handled it poorly." But the on-air rebuke underscored Smith's status as an outspoken newsman at the network defined by high-decibel conservatives, a stance that has earned him respect even from some Fox-hating liberals.

Kurtz, adds some deets about The FOX Report’s new sponsorship deal with Verizon: Verizon recently launched a multimillion-dollar arrangement to be the sole sponsor of TFR on the first Monday of each month, providing more minutes for news.

Heres more:

Michael Clemente, Fox's senior vice president, says Smith's greatest asset is his passion. "He sort of wakes up with the curiosity to find out what's going on and brings that energy home to the viewer," Clemente says. "He gets very excited about car chases. . . . He happens to be a nice-looking guy as well -- good pipes, he's got the whole tool kit."

Instead, he says he is proud to work for a cable channel that has stuck with the 7 p.m. "Fox Report," where Smith just celebrated his 10th anniversary as anchor. "Think of the ratings difference if they were to put opinion in" at that hour, he says. Not that Smith's ratings are anemic. He has drawn an impressive 1.87 million viewers this year, up 18 percent over 2008, while his chief rivals were losing audience share. Lou Dobbs, who abruptly quit CNN last week, had been drawing 759,000 viewers, while MSNBC's Chris Matthews is averaging 714,000 for a rerun of "Hardball." As for some of the more inflammatory rhetoric heard on Fox, Smith deflects a question about Beck calling Barack Obama a racist, saying he always uses the terms "President" and "Mr." At the same time, he credits his pugnaciously conservative colleagues for his own sizable budget. "Our newscast is better because our opinion programs are successful," he says.

PS: Shep has a nifty website, too--Fox seems to be overhauling its whole website.

Tailgating with Shepard Smith

One reason why The Cable Gamer likes Shepard Smith so much is that it's indisputable that he is a regular guy, despite all his success. The usual pattern is for media bigshots to buy places in the Hamptons, and for them to be sighted, as often as possible, in Palm Beach or Gstaad. But if you want to find Shep Smith on a weekend during football season, you had better be wherever the Ole Miss football team is playing that Saturday.

That's my takeaway from T.J. Walter's profile of SS in USA Weekend, which provides the Shepardian perspective on what to eat, what to do, and most of all, what to watch:

"There are no pundits or opinions on my shows," Smith says, "but when it comes to college football, there is only one truth: We should win every game, and LSU should lose every game!"

That's Shepard Smith Sr., pictured with his son, above.

Roger Ailes Honored At Boy Scouts Dinner

Fox & Friends this morning featured a clip of Fox News chief Roger Ailes receiving the "Scout of the Year" award from the Westchester-Putnam County Boy Scouts, just north of NYC. As we can see, Gretchen Carlson, Brian Kilmeade, Alisyn Camerota, Clayton Morris, and Dave Briggs were all there.

But there was plenty of other Fox talent there. The emcee was Bill Hemmer, who Cable Game sources said did a great job, although he was overshadowed onstage by a young Boy Scout, who spoke briefly from the podium and possessed, according to one spy, "perfect comic timing." Indeed, the youngster was so good in his delivery that Kevin Magee, chief of the Fox Business News, called out, "Do you know anything about business news?"

And oh--did I mention that there was a mystery guest? None other than Rush Limbaugh, who flew all the way up from Florida, just for the occasion, to pay tribute to Scouting, to Ailes, and to America. Limbaugh reportedly looked positively thin, as well as nicely tanned.

Sources tell TCG that among the guests were Fox talent Neil Cavuto, Geraldo Rivera, Andrew Napolitano, Peter Doocy, John Scott, Ellen Ratner, Peter Johnson Jr., Eric Bolling, Jenna Lee, and Liz Claman.

In his speech, Ailes quoted St. Thomas More, saying, "You must never abandon the ship because you can't control the waves." That is, yes we are in stormy times, but that's the time for Americans to step up and be counted. To make a difference, by joining the military, helping the Boy Scouts, or otherwise serving the nation.

Ailes added, "Is suspects are presumed to be innocent, so is your country. America needs protection, too," reminding his audience that this the country that people want to get in to, not get out of. And so he reminded the journalist-heavy audience, "The press doesn't need to be a lapdog, and it doesn't need to be an attack dog. The press should be a watchdog." Exactly.

And he concluded with a larger point about America in the world: "There's a global struggle between good and evil...we must not play for a tie."

As a TCG source explained, "The event was pure Roger. It was all about God, Country, Scout's Honor and Duty. That's what he is all about."

This happens to be the 99th year of Scouting in America. So next year is the centennial. TCG wonders if the national Boy Scouts will see the wisdom of bringing in both Ailes and Limbaugh, but it's a cinch that next year's Westchester-Putnam event will be quite a sought-after ticket.

The Gang of Four, Updated

The Gang of Four just lost one.

Anita Dunn Is Purged

So the best-known Maoist in the White House, Anita Dunn is leaving her job as communications director. Now the anti-Fox News campaign is really over. Purged out of the White House.

The Cable Gamer realizes that everyone is saying that Comrade Dunn is leaving of her own accord, but TCG doesn't believe it. TCG believes that Dunn was giving herself an out all along: She could leave if he she wanted to, or she could go stay if she wanted to. Plenty of people have announced plans to leave big jobs, and then un-announced them. It's kinda cool, in fact, to say that you have to go, and then to have the President say, "No, stay please, I need you!"

Well, Barack Obama didn't say that in Dunn's case.

Perhaps the Obamans were happy to see her go, because by a more than 7:1 margin, even the liberal-leaning audience of NPR thought she was in the wrong, and Fox was in the right. (See graphic above.)

So goodbye, Comrade Anita. Like Jiang Qing before you, you proletarian services are no longer required.

The Fox News Channels

Adweek's Mike Shields catches an interesting development in The Cable Game: the creation of a new Fox News channel, a streaming video channel, called "Strategy Room." Right now, it's small, but it's getting big sponsors, and it addresses a clear demand, for Fox Fans who want to go deeper on certain stories, or spend more time with certain hosts.

It's an interesting kind of proliferation, and there's really no limit to how far it could go, both in terms of channels, and in terms of niche-audiences.

MSNBC, Too, Poisoned By Political Correctness

Thanks to Newsbusters' Jeff Poor. The MSM just can't get enough of interviewing Muslims, espousing political multiculturalism, and so on.

CNN's Carol Costello: Queen of Political Correctness

Newsbusters' Matthew Balan gets it all down.

Fox Defending America

Fox is fighting a lonely battle against political correctness--the kind of p.c. that could kill America. Since the Fort Hood shooting, the MSM has bent over backwards to draw any conclusions about the alleged shooter (why I am bothering with the "alleged" business--Bill O'Reilly didn't bother on Friday; he forthrightly called Nidal Hasan the killer !). That's why Martha Raddatz, on ABC News, echoed the hope that the killer's name was "Smith." As in, it's OK if a white person does it, but not OK if a "third world" person does it--because we all must bow down to the orthodoxy that white people are bad, and third-world people are good. Which is why Diane Sawyer was so impressed with Raddatz's comment that she repeated it and endorsed it the next morning.

But on Fox, suggestions come in for defending America. Brian Kilmeade, on Fox & Friends, suggested "special screenings" for Muslims in the US military. His fellow Foxman, Geraldo Rivera, was horrified--a reminder that Fox has plenty of debate within its own ranks--and liberals clobbered Kilmeade, but yes, that's exactly what we should do. And we'll do it eventually, although at the rate things are going, not until the next terrorist incident.

But for the MSM, there's vastly more concern about "backlash" as there is about justice, or about defending America.

And for the Obama administration, too. General George Casey, the Army chief of staff, was much more interested in defending the status quo. "The speculation could potentially heighten the backlash agains some of our Muslim soldiers," he told ABC's "This Week."

And for its part, the Washington Post will insist on an actual memo from Al Qaeda to Nidal Hasan before it admits that there was any sort of conspiracy. Until then, the Post will insist on paralyzing p.c., as it did in its front-page story this morning. It's worth remembering, this is allegedly a news story, but the reporters feel obligated to avoid doing anything that could be "misinterpreted" or "provoke an overreaction." But here it is, decide for yourself:

A challenge for investigators is sorting out a potential thicket of psychological, ideological or religious motivations behind Hasan's alleged actions. Hasan's possible contact with extremists such as Aulaqi would complicate matters, suggesting that U.S. authorities may have missed chances to prevent the cleric from instigating this incident and others. But if it turns out that Hasan acted in the throes of an emotional breakdown, his questionable ties could be misinterpreted in ways that damage U.S. outreach to the Muslim world or provoke an overreaction that divides Americans.

"There's a massive effort here to look at the Web sites he visited," the law enforcement official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing probe. "That's part of what's ongoing: what you learn from it, then you've got to figure out what it means." He added: "The important thing is, the jury's still out on motivation."

Note that last phrase: "The important thing is, the jury's still out on motivation." You see, what's important to liberals, and to sources who talk to liberals, is that we not reach any firm conclusions.

No Wonder GE Wants to Get Rid of NBC-U

This chart comes from The Business Insider. There's a recession, and no media company is doing as well as it would like, but GE's performance stands out--make that stands down.

Fox Wins A Sad But Big Day

It's a sad occasion, that nobody wanted, but it's still interesting that Fox won the day on coverage of the Fort Hood tragedy. Less than five months ago, during the last event that scrambled coverage, the death of Michael Jackson, CNN emerged from the depths to win the day. But since then, CNN has sunk into fourth place; now, as David Zurawik notes in the Baltimore Sun, Fox "swamped" the competition for Fort Hood coverage, drawing nearly twice as many viewers as CNN. (MSNBC and HLN were way back in the pack.)

Which is to say, the last shred of an argument that CNN had going for it--that it was still the "news network of record" for big events--has now disappeared.

The lead anchor for Fox, of course, was Shepard Smith, who is emerging as a newsman's newsman. He has the right tone and demeanor for all occasions, including the most serious and sad of occasions.