FCC's Copps Wants 'Real Journalism'

Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps made a case for a government hand in media policy in a speech to the FCBA on Tuesday, according to a story by Sara Jerome at thehill.com.

"The commission can act now. It should have acted on the media before now. I am disappointed that it has not," he said.

The decline of "real journalism" justifies federal involvement, according to Copps. "The news is suffering from a bad case of substance abuse," he said.

The Democratic commissioner pointed to Fox News' Bernie Goldberg and Bill O'Reilly as examples of the problem with today's media landscape, saying the pair has taken his own words out of context.

"What you and I are getting these days is too much opinion based on opinion and too little news based on fact," Copps said.

The key going forward, according to Copps, is "making sure there is media about, and originating from, the local communities a station serves."

Congress has given the FCC power to get involved in the Communications Acts, according to Copps. It may want to give the agency more power to promote media diversity and competition, he said.

The commissioner also reiterated his call for a "Public Value Test" as part of the broadcasting license renewal, a process controlled by the FCC.

Read more here.

WEEI Announces New Drive-Time 'Dream Team'

Writing a new chapter in its 20-year history as the national sports talk radio leader, the WEEI Sports Radio Network today announced a major change to its afternoon drive-time show.

In a move that creates a “Dream Team” pairing two of Boston’s most respected and entertaining personalities, Michael Holley, who has co-hosted the midday “Dale and Holley” program on WEEI since 2005, is moving to afternoon drive-time, joining Glenn Ordway for “The Big Show with Glenn Ordway and Michael Holley.”  The program will air weekdays from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and launches on February 28.
Listen to station announcement here.

CBS News' Lara Logan Assaulted During Protests

(CBS News) On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a "60 Minutes" story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy.

In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.

There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.

CMA Radio Winners Announced

Blair Garner wins National On-Air Personality of the Year

Today the Academy of Country Music is announcing the full list of radio award winners that will not be televised due to time constraints during the live telecast of the 46th Annual Academy ofg Country Music Awards.

This marks the third ACM National On-Air Personality of the Year Award win for Blair Garner, for After MidNite with Blair Garner. Garner, who also won this award in 2003 and 2005, brings an energy to his show that draws listeners in during the late night and keeps them up until the early morning hours. With nearly 260 affiliates, Garner is recognized as being one of the Top 10 Most Listened to Disc Jockeys in America.

Winners in radio categories will be invited to receive their awards at a private reception in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 2, the day prior to the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

For the third year in a row, ACM Awards producers plan to invite individual On-Air Personality of the Year winners (or one individual from the teams who win Personality of the Year categories) to participate in the telecast as the voices for bumpers leading into commercials for the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

ON-AIR PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR WINNERS:

NATIONAL Blair Garner – After MidNite With Blair Garner

MAJOR MARKET Cliff and Brooks (Cliff, Brooks and Tori) – KSON-FM – San Diego, CA

LARGE MARKET Chris Carr, Jason Statt and Maverick – WUBE-FM – Cincinnati, OH

MEDIUM MARKET Andy Ritchie, Alison Mencer and Jimmy Holt – WIVK-FM – Knoxville, TN

SMALL MARKET Dex and Mo – WUSY-FM – Chattanooga, TN

RADIO STATION OF THE YEAR WINNERS: (NOTE TIE IN MAJOR MARKET)

MAJOR MARKET KEEY-FM – St. Louis Park, MN (tie)
MAJOR MARKET KNIX-FM – Phoenix, AZ (tie)

LARGE MARKET WGH-FM – Virginia Beach, VA

MEDIUM MARKET WIVK-FM – Knoxville, TN

SMALL MARKET WYCT-FM – Pensacola, FL

Charlie Sheen: Being Sober Is Boring

Wildman actor Charlie Sheen, barely out of hospital from his latest reported drug-and-booze meltdown, said Tuesday he has no intention of mending his ways.

"I was sober for five years a long time ago and was just bored out of my tree," he said in a phone call to DirecTV/Fox Sports Radio host Dan Patrick, according to a AFP story.

"It's inauthentic -- it's not who I am. I didn't drink for 12 years and, man, that first one, Dan. Wow."

Sheen, star of the TV series "Two and a Half Men" and the son of actor Martin Sheen, has become nonstop tabloid fodder with escapades allegedly involving hard drugs, hard drinking, prostitutes and porn actresses.

Two weeks ago he checked into rehab after being rushed to hospital with "severe abdominal pains" from a reported drug- and booze-fueled bender.

The emergency required suspension of production on "Two and a Half Men," in which Sheen, 45, plays a hedonistic bachelor.

In his rambling radio interview, Sheen suggested he should get back to work while he still could.

"Check it. It's like, I heal really quickly. But I unravel pretty quickly. So get me right now, guys," he said, addressing the show's producers.

TMZ, a celebrity news site, reported that Sheen had been partying with five women, including a porn star, and a briefcase full of cocaine at the time of his last meltdown.

The star filed for divorce from his wife of two years in November, days after being taken to hospital following a reported drunken incident at a luxury New York hotel involving another porn star.

In addition to his reported substance abuse, Sheen had several run-ins with the law in the 1990s in cases related to drugs, domestic violence and prostitution.

Read more here.

Obama's Media Machine: State Run Media 2.0?

White House Hones Online Messaging Operation

As the 2012 presidential campaign kicks into gear, President Obama's White House media operation is demonstrating an unprecedented ability to broadcast its message through social media and the Internet, at times doing an end-run around the traditional press.



According to a story at abcnews.com, the White House Press Office now not only produces a website, blog, YouTube channel, Flickr photo stream, and Facebook and Twitter profiles, but also a mix of daily video programming, including live coverage of the president's appearances and news-like shows that highlight his accomplishments.

"Advise the Adviser: Your Direct Line to the White House," the administration's latest online program launched last week, encourages viewers to offer "advice, opinions and feedback on important issues" and promises a response from a senior administration official in return.

"We're striving to not just have a passive website where people can read about what's happening but create a method of interaction and feedback," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

It joins "Open for Questions," a periodic series of live moderated video chats with officials, "West Wing Week," a magazine-style show featuring the president behind the scenes, and other live-streaming events, including an annotated version of the State of the Union address, all intended to more directly disseminate the administration's message.

Read more here.

Yahoo Decides to Friend Facebook

Yahoo Inc. watched as social-networking website Facebook Inc. stole the attention of users and grabbed a major share of the online-advertising market.

Now, according to Amir Efrati at wsj.com,  the Internet pioneer is following an old mantra: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

After struggling for years to develop services that compete with the social network, Yahoo in recent months has installed tools such as Facebook's "Like" and "Share" buttons on its news and sports websites in order to help Yahoo users share articles with their contacts on Facebook, among other things.

Yahoo, like other content providers, is seeking to leverage Facebook's huge user base to draw more traffic back to Yahoo after readers click on the sharing buttons. The moves also are aimed at ensuring that links to Yahoo content appear in the search feature on Facebook's site. Yahoo is using similar approaches with Twitter Inc., the Internet messaging service, and Zynga Game Network Inc., which offers online social games.

Yahoo hopes the moves will solve one of its biggest problems—a 10% slide in the time users collectively spent per month on Yahoo sites last year, according to research firm comScore. Yahoo's internal research shows the main culprit for the slide is Facebook, people familiar with the matter said.

Read more here.

Morley Safer Ruffles Feathers at Private Club

At the height of a messy internal dispute a few weeks ago, members of the exclusive Century Association in Manhattan traded unusually tart and testy e-mail messages.

But according to Michael Barbaro at nytimes.com,  the words of a single member stood out for their harsh tone: those of Morley Safer, the longtime correspondent for CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

As the Century debated whether to sever ties with an all-male club in London, Mr. Safer described a prominent female club member as “whining,” “self-pitying” and “vindictive.”

And he seemed to compare demands for gender equality to the need for special accommodations for “nudists and transsexuals,” according to e-mails obtained by The New York Times.

Mr. Safer, 79, wrote the e-mails in late 2010 and early 2011 as the Century concluded an emotional debate about whether to end an agreement with the Garrick Club in London that gave members access to both clubhouses.

Many Centurions, as members are known, argued that the Garrick’s policies smacked of chauvinism: while male members of the 164-year-old Century have unfettered access to the British club, women can enter only in the company of a man.

Read more here.

How AP Vetted a Citizen Video of a Death

During the unrest in Egypt, CNN iReporters uploaded 1600 videos and photos,of which 44 were vetted for use on CNN.

While there is value having citizen reporting out on the streets, verifying the content can be an arduous task, according to panelists speaking in this 7:30 minute clip from the Beet.TV Video Journalism Summit at The Washingon Post.



One of the most dramatic videos from Cairo was an AP video of a protestor being shot. The raw, unedited clip has gotten about 670,000 views on YouTube.

The images were recorded by a citizen and confirmed by an AP reporter who was at the scene and saw the shooting, says the AP's Kevin Roach. 

Stroke Scare: What Is Reporter's Condition?

Hours after experiencing an unsettling on-air inability to speak while covering the Grammys last night, Serene Branson is said to be feeling fine, according to a story at cbsnews.com.

"Serene Branson was examined by paramedics on scene immediately after her broadcast," Branson's station, KCBS, said in a statement. "Her vital signs were normal. She was not hospitalized. As a precautionary measure, a colleague gave her a ride home and she says that she is feeling fine this morning."



The reassuring news comes as a surprise to some, given the worrisome nature of Branson's inability to articulate real words. She started her report by saying, "A very heavy blurtation tonight" before her speech devolved into complete gibberish.

"I am a little surprised," Dr. John Krakauer, associate professor of neurology and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, told CBS News. "Frankly, I would have admitted her."

Dr. Krakauer, who is not involved in Branson's care, said that Branson might have suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA), a sort of "mini-stroke" that causes only transient problems. Some patients who are seen at a hospital for a TIA are allowed to go home without being admitted, he said.

He said it was also possible that Branson had suffered a seizure or experienced a rare condition associated with migraine headaches.

But whatever happened to Branson, Dr. Krakauer said her problem should serve as a reminder that stroke can happen even to young people.

Read more here.

Whoopi Goldberg blasts New York Times

Whoopi Goldberg has slammed a New York Times article as “sloppy” because it completely failed to mention her in a review of Afrwww,.can-American Oscar winners, according to Isla Harvey at monstersand critics.com.

The Oscar-winning actress, who has appeared in over 50 films, said she felt hurt when the magazine feature discussed racial diversity in the Academy Awards, but didn’t print her name once.

“I am embarrassed to say that it hurt me terribly,” she admitted on US talk show The View, earlier today.

The 55-year-old Sister Act star, who won an Oscar in 1991 for her role in Ghost, said she felt “dismissed and erased by the New York Times film critics who should know better”.

She later added: “This is sloppy journalism.”

The Colour Purple star then reached under the table and pulled out her prestigious award, which she slammed down on the desk in front of her.

“Just in case there is any damn question,” she said to rapturous applause from the studio audience.

Goldberg added that she is one of only 12 Hollywood stars to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award.

Read more here.