Bieber Ruffles The Ladies On 'The View'

When Justin Bieber opened up to Rolling Stone about his views on premarital sex and abortion, he probably didn't expect the co-hosts of "The View" to vilify him for it, according to a story by Shari Weiss at nydailynews.com.

But some of the talk show's stars did just that Thursday morning, when they debated whether 16-year-old Bieber had any business discussing such adult matters.

The teen heartthrob is quoted in the magazine's March issue as saying "you should just wait" until you're in love to have sex, and "I really don't believe in abortion … It's like killing a baby."

When asked about situations in which women become pregnant after being raped, Bieber said he believed "everything happens for a reason," but noted, "I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that."

As guest co-host KaDee Strickland pointed out, "He won't be in that position because he cannot give birth."

"He doesn't have a choice like that," she added. "He's a 16-year-old boy, as I understand it. That's a very hot-button thing to be talking about."

Joy Behar said Bieber's "everything happens for a reason" comment is "really insulting to people who have been raped or victims of incest. There is no 'reason' for that."

Both Strickland and Behar said they were "concerned" about the influence the singer's comments might have on young girls – his core fan base.

His lone defender? Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

"I don't think we can discount somebody's opinion because they happen to be 16," she said. "We have brilliant minds who are young [and] young minds who have created things that are now changing the world. To discount his opinion simply because he's 16, I think, is a disservice."

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Lakers Leaving Fox

Houston and Los Angeles were cornerstones of Fox Sports Net when it was created in the mid-1990s, and now Fox has suffered a blow in LA with this week’s announcement that the Lakers will leave after the 2011-12 season for English- and Spanish-language regional sports networks owned by Time Warner Cable, according to a column by David Barron at chron.com.

If estimates valuing the deal at $3 billion over 20 years are reasonably correct, cable bills in LA are about to go up big-time. However, Time Warner in LA, like Comcast in Houston with its Rockets-Astros network launching in 2012, now must sell the new channel in a marketplace that has substantial numbers of households serviced by providers and about 620,000 households with no pay TV.

DirecTV has more than a million customers in LA, which, along with other providers and uncabled households, together account for more than half of the households in the LA market. Another remarkable element of the deal is that Time Warner is paying so much money for, given the Lakers’ popularity with the NBA’s national outlets, maybe 60 to 65 exclusive telecasts each year.

Fox Sports Net, meanwhile, isn’t going out of business, but is remarkable to consider the extent to which it is fading as a force in Top 10 markets.

It still has a full run of teams in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and, until the Lakers leave, Los Angeles. But in addition to team-owned outlets like NESN in Boston and YES in New York, Comcast is now a dominant Top 10 player with MLB/NBA/NHL deals in the San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington, D.C., with Houston soon to follow, plus the Mets in New York and the Celtics in New England.

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GM To Offer Pandora iNet Radio

General Motors Co will launch a new system to stream online radio from Pandora in upcoming Chevrolets starting with the Volt and Equinox.

Reuters is reporting the new partnership comes as the top U.S. automaker looks to make up for lost ground against Ford Motor Co in the increasingly competitive market for digital entertainment systems in vehicles.

GM said the 2012 Chevrolet Volt and the Equinox would come equipped with a new system dubbed "Chevy MyLink" anchored by a seven-inch, color touch-screen display in the dashboard.

The system will allow Chevy drivers to stream music from Pandora Media Inc by syncing the vehicle to a smartphone and using an existing Pandora account.

Chief Executive Dan Akerson, who has a background in telecommunications, has said one of his priorities was to sharpen the automaker's focus on vehicle electronics.

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PA School District Wants DJ To Apologize

Lakeland School District wants a radio personality to apologize for allegedly reporting "false and defamatory" information about the district.

According to a story by Caitlin Heaney at thetimes-tribune.com, the school board unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday night, authorizing its attorneys to send letters to radio station Froggy 101 (WGGY) and its affiliates to demand an apology from host Jacob Navarro.

The district claims Mr. Navarro erroneously reported on Dec. 17 and 20 that a Lakeland student had taken a gun to school and school officials covered up the matter. Those actions were "irresponsible, malicious, unethical and damaging to the community and represent the worst in smear tactics," according to the resolution. Board Vice President Richard Koruszko said the statements were "completely false."

After Mr. Navarro allegedly made the reports, parents contacted Lakeland about pulling their students from school, and one person told a school board member she almost crashed her car when she heard the statement, said Superintendent Margaret Billings-Jones, Ed.D.

Mr. Koruszko said the board passed the resolution for the community because Mr. Navarro's alleged comments caused a disservice to the public.

"It's a very serious matter, and there (were) many, many concerned parents who, when they heard that news, they were upset," he said.

The resolution also authorizes the district's attorneys to contact the Federal Communications Commission and other authorities about the matter and to ask Mr. Navarro to "cease and desist from such irresponsible broadcasting."

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Serene Branson Had A 'Complex Migraine'

Doctor:  No stroke

KCBS2 Los Angeles television reporter Serene Branson's garbled speech during a live Grammy broadcast last Sunday was not the result of a small stroke as many have speculated but was instead a symptom of a "complex migraine," according to her physician, Dr. Neil Martin, chief of neurosurgery at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Thomas H. Maugh II of the LATimes reports Martin received permission from Branson to discuss her condition publicly.

Branson appeared fine when she appeared on air following the awards show, but her words made no sense, and the show's producers immediately cut away from her and paramedics were called. She recovered quickly and was taken home.

A complex migraine can mimic the symptoms of a stroke, with weakness, loss of vision and difficulty speaking, in addition to a headache. It is often mistaken for a stroke.



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Report: Citadel in Negotiations to Sell To Cumulus

4pm UPDATE: Citadel Broadcasting is in talks to sell itself to a smaller rival, Cumulus Media for $37 a share in cash and stock, people briefed on the matter told Michael J. De La Merced and Brooks Barnes at DealBook on Thursday, after months of refusing to consider a deal.

Under the terms of the new proposal, Cumulus would pay $30 a share in cash and $7 in stock for each Citadel share, or about $2.5 billion.

Talks between the two companies, which began this week, are ongoing and may still fall apart, one of these people said. One concern of Citadel’s management is that a deal would require a significant amount of debt.

Class B shares of Citadel, which trade over the counter, rose 6.6 percent to $32.50 in midday trading on Thursday after CNBC reported Cumulus’s new offer.

Citadel, the nation’s third-largest radio broadcaster, had previously declined to consider takeover offers by Cumulus last year. The most recent offer, which Cumulus disclosed in December, was valued at $31 a share, or $2.1 billion.

Cumulus has the backing of an investor group led by Crestview Partners, a private equity firm, which previously indicated it would provide up to $500 million in equity.

But the refusal by Citadel to consider the Cumulus offers angered its shareholders, many of whom are hedge funds who gained their holdings in the company after it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009.

Investors were provoked in particular by a $400 million debt offering that Citadel announced shortly after Cumulus’s offer was made public. The bond sale was seen as a deterrent to a takeover because it required a $31 million payment in case the company was sold.

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Glenn Beck 'Uncomfortable' With Google

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National Enquirer: Jobs May Have Six Weeks

Apple founder Steve Jobs has lost an alarming amount of weight and is reportedly sicker than has been previously admitted, according to a story at dailymail.co.uk.

The 55-year-old computer genius announced in late January that  'at my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health'.

Since then, Apple employees have claimed that he can still be seen at the company's headquarters in California and is also calling all the strategic shots from his home.

But yesterday  shocking new pictures were published in the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer which suggests things are worse than Apple would have the world believe.

The Enquirer claims that the man behind the iPod, iPhone and iPad is stricken with pancreatic cancer and may have just six weeks to live.

The new photos show Mr Jobs looking painfully frail and weak, with his jeans and dark top hanging loosely on his 6ft 2in, rail-thin body.

However, he is well enough to meet Thursday with Barack Obama in San Francisco.

The president is visiting Intel Corp, where he will also talk to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO, Eric Schmidt to draw attention to the role of education in preparing Americans for new high-tech jobs.

The National Enquirer pictures are not yet available online.

Jobs's weight is said to have dropped from a pre-cancer 175lb to 130lb now, according to the National Enquirer. His thinning hair is a sign of the effects of the advanced chemotherapy usually used to treat the disease.

The photos, which were taken on February 8, showed Mr Jobs going for breakfast with his wife Laurene Powell before heading to the Stanford Cancer Centre in California.

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ABC NEWS:  Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerberg to Meet With President Obama Thursday in San Francisco

NBC Weighs Value Of Future Olympics

Comcast Corp., which last month acquired majority ownership of NBC Universal, may not be feeling the love for the Olympics, according to a story by Meg James at latimes.com.

Long one of NBC's most prestigious properties, the Olympic Games have given the broadcasting company huge ratings, leverage when negotiating new deals with cable operators and sweeteners to attract marquee advertisers willing to pay hefty premiums.

NBC's previous parent company, General Electric Co., also used sponsorship of the Games as a calling card, helping to open doors of commerce in China and beyond. But unlike GE, Comcast isn't concerned with sales of turbines, lights and security systems.

NBC Universal posted a staggering $220-million loss on its coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, a financial gaffe that Comcast hopes not to repeat.

We are here to make money," NBC Universal Chief Executive Steve Burke said Wednesday when asked about Comcast's interest in the Olympics during a conference call with analysts. "We're here to be disciplined. Our job is to increase value over the long term."

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Public Broadcasting Execs to MoveOn.org: Please, Move On

In funding cuts fight, CPB, others find themselves stuck with unhelpful ally

With friends like MoveOn.org, public broadcasters don’t need enemies. But they’ve got plenty, especially now that the Republicans who control the House of Representatives are proposing to cut off all government funding for public broadcasting.

According to a story by Katy Bachman at adweek.com, when House Republicans put the money for public broadcasting on their list of budget cuts two weeks ago, there was barely a peep from either the right or the left. But that changed when MoveOn, a liberal organization that’s a favorite bogeyman for and target of conservatives, jumped into the fray.

MoveOn turned the entry page for its Web site into a petition opposing the proposed cuts and e-mailed its members imploring them to sign the petition.

Public broadcasting executives appreciate the support—to a point. But several who spoke with Adweek wish MoveOn would have stayed quiet. They’re concerned that the group’s support will help opponents paint public broadcasting as a tool of the left wing, rather than a thoughtful, educational and often high-brow approach to news and culture.

“We’re embarrassed,” one exec said.

As if on cue, Brent Bozell, the founder and president of the Media Research Center, a conservative press watchdog, seemed to confirm public broadcasters’ worst fears. Bozell entered the debate by tweeting: “Earth to media reporters: If PBS and NPR subsidies are being promoted by MoveOn.org, doesn’t that hint at WHOSE media these are?”

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BROADCASTING&CABLE:  White House Press Secretary: Noncom Funding is Priority

President Calls Lara Logan

US Army/CBS photo

President Obama phoned CBS reporter Lara Logan Wednesday to express concern over the brutal sexual assault she suffered while covering the Egyptian revolution.

Sources at CBS confirmed to nydailynews.com, Obama reached out to Logan, 39, but did not reveal specifics on what he discussed with the veteran war-zone correspondent.

Logan was released from a hospital Tuesday night, and was recovering at home in Washington with her husband and their two children, network sources said.

CBS went public with news of the attack on Logan after receiving a call from the National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid that was working on the story.

Logan was set upon by a mob of more than 200 Friday as she and her crew covered the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Logan was separated from her camera crew, "surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating," CBS said in the statement.

A group of women and 20 Egyptian soldiers came to her rescue and she was flown out of the country on Saturday.

In an interview with Esquire.com before she was assaulted, Logan, who hails from South Africa, revealed that   Egyptian authorities had detained her and her crew at gunpoint and accused her of being an Israeli spy.

National Press Club, the world's leading professional organization for journalists, urged Egyptian authorities Wednesday to "aggressively investigate" the attack and to bring those responsible to justice.

Stunned news colleagues of Logan, who is also a CBS "60 Minutes" correspondent, showered her with well-wishes and expressed outrage over her ordeal.

Read more here.

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CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Anything that even hints at blaming Lara Logan for her attack, is unconscionable

BOSTON HERALD:  CBS complicit in news coverup

NYTIMES:  ABC Correspondent Attacked in Bahrain