Bad Review

Today's column for the Daily Banter takes a look at the dangers of corporate media ownership, as made glaringly obvious by the way CBS just fucked CNET.

Here's the opening shot:

"An unfortunate truth about most examples of the dangers of corporate media ownership is that they’re invisible. This is because it’s often not about what a corporate media owner does do but what it doesn’t, what stories don’t get reported and what actions aren’t taken. There’s a design to this and it’s basically so that there’s always plausible deniability. How can you prove something that never actually happened? It’s rare that a massive multinational, media-oriented or otherwise, puts visible pressure on one of the smaller media companies it owns and therefore makes it obvious to everyone watching just how insidious corporate ownership can be when it comes to what the general public sees and hears. In other words, it’s rare that this kind of thing doesn’t operate in the shadows and a big media owner comes right out and admits that it’s screwing with the flow of information.

Maybe that’s what makes CBS’s colossal overreach with CNET so damn startling and fascinating."

Read the Rest Here

Early Rise

Hell, if I were the guy who wasn't gonna get to sit next to Betty Nguyen anymore, I'd be begging too.

Popeater: Honeymooning TJ Holmes Begs Betty Nguyen To Stay at CNN/3.8.10

Bet his new wife loved that.

I will say this, though: The TV news business has more than its share of really rotten people, the exploits of whom I've occasionally chronicled here, at the Huffington Post and so on. Maybe that's why when you run into somebody you truly like -- someone who's not simply an inarguable talent but a genuinely good person -- you want to shout his or her praises from the rooftops.

Hence, what I'm happy to do for Betty.

She's leaving CNN to head over to CBS, where she'll be anchoring the CBS Morning News and reporting for the Early Show -- and I couldn't be more thrilled for her. Betty's a total sweetheart -- one of the nicest and most professional people I've ever had the pleasure of working with. She filled in for Daryn Kagan quite a bit back when I was senior producer on CNN Live Today and she was always a joy to be around. No, I never thought of her as an adherent to the tough-as-nails journalism model, but for on-air and off-air likability -- which is king in the morning -- there's nobody better. And yeah, she's breathtakingly gorgeous, but maybe one of the most respectable qualities about her is that she's never let that go to her head.

I'm so happy for her and I think it's fair to say that CBS scored big in its decision to bring her aboard, so good for them.

And good for Betty.

Sacrificial Lambert

I'm not going spend more than a minute or so on this because I honestly just don't care all that much that Adam Lambert has managed to piss off a substantial portion of perpetually uptight America.

Late yesterday, Good Morning America made the decision to cancel this morning's appearance by Lambert -- not too surprising given that ABC was fielding outraged phone calls all Sunday night into Monday following his amusing antics at the American Music Awards. Guess GMA didn't want Lambert getting any more gay all over the unsuspecting folks in the flyovers and down south. (Either that or they just felt it would be best to keep him away from Sam Champion.)

Turns out, though, that CBS's Early Show will take up the slack and put Lambert on the air this morning -- a move that a lot of Lambert's fans are now singing the praises of. If you thought you'd never see the day that teenagers and homosexuals were shouting "Go CBS!" -- yeah, me neither.

Not so fast, though. While there's no direct connection between Adam Lambert and CBS parent company Viacom that I can see -- in other words, Viacom doesn't own the label putting Lambert's brand "spanking" new album out or anything -- the media giant does own MTV, which just premiered Lambert's video last night and no doubt wants to maintain a good relationship with a guy who with one performance managed to fulfill his destiny of becoming the next monster pop sensation. These days, thanks mostly to the internet and multi-media saturation, MTV needs hitmakers and big audience draws more than the latter needs it.

Besides, CBS knows Lambert on the Early Show will likely be a ratings bonanza. And in the end -- setting aside the fear that an angry mob led by the Parents Television Council will set fire to your corporate headquarters -- that's the most important consideration of all.