Washington’s Oscar weekend begins May 9 as Hollywood and New York’s biggest celebrities come to town for an evening with the President, Vice President, official Washington and the media.
Fishbowl DC brings word that Jim Glassman’s Ideas in Action will join the Sunday local viewing habits in September.
The half-hour show will “air weekly on two public television stations – Howard University Television (WHUT Channel 32) at 9:30 a.m. and Maryland Public Television (MPT) at 8:30 a.m.” The show will continue to be taped from the Newseum and on location in Dallas.
Glassman, a former host for Capital Gang Sunday and current executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, leads the discussion series that focuses on central topics such as cybersecurity or dissent on the Internet rather than rope-a-dope talking points about traffic jams in Los Angeles.
Ideas currently airs in select markets via PBS and streaming via its website. You can check for local availability here.
If you’re playing at home, that means your average Sunday can now include Ideas In Action among every other show you keep DVR’ed for Monday Morning Talking Points.
The people of Los Angeles found out there is a price for their idyllic weather and sprawling commute last night: $1 million.
That’s how much a private fundraiser held for President Obama garnered according to TheWrap. Held at the home of producer John Wells, Hollywood came out to hear the president explain his upcoming legislative agenda and other remarks in the relaxed atmosphere of a walled garden.
The Associated Press will not haz a cheeseburger after all.
It comes as a surprise to everyone that the wire service was in actual contractual talks for months–yes, “actual months” Fishbowl NY breathlessly assures us–with Pet Holdings Inc. (aka the owners of I Can Haz Cheeseburger.) The reason, according to an interview with Pet Holdings CEO Ben Huh in the Los Angeles Times,
“They felt that allowing the unwashed masses to [alter image captions] would be against their journalistic integrity.”
The main question (“How does an old media monolith like the AP remain hip and relevant in the age of cats with white text?”) is a frivolous statement. The AP has one of the better mobile apps through iTunes, but still suffered earlier this year when Google News revealed it would not host any new content from AP after contract negotiations failed.
Politico (in the first of a proposed three-part series it seems) engages the Capitol Hill bar culture about what happens when tired and thirsty staffers seem to disappear for a few weeks.
Mid-week announcements are the best when it concerns White House Press Pools.
So without further ado, as Fishbowl DC informs us, Ben Feller is the AP’s new White House Correspondent. Feller covered education for the news organization from 2003 to 2006, switching to the White House since then.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Meredith Fineman carries her parents journalistic tradition into new media. Her father, Howard, is leading political light for Newsweek and NBC News; her mother, Amy Nathan, now at the FCC, got her start reporting for the Washington Post.
Fifty First (J) Dates is the 23-year old’s way to meet people after returning to her hometown of Washington, D.C. after working abroad in Buenos Aires.
“At first I didn’t tell them about it,” Fineman said. “They found out from other people about ‘how fabulous it was.’” The point, Fineman assures, is to be fun and humorous about dating in D.C. instead of a return to Washingtonienne.
William Castle is clearly smiling down from heaven when it comes to a new trend in programming.
The Wrap reports that Comedy Central greenlit “Dwaynebook,” hosted by Dwayne Perkins. The format of the show focuses on “social networking” according to Perkins’ manager, Matt Schuler:
“It’s completely different than any other green-screen show that’s on TV, because it focuses specifically on social networking … I mean, ‘Tosh.0′ is basically about anything on the internet, ‘Web Soup’ is basically about anything on the Internet, ‘The Soup’ is basically what’s going on on TV. This just focuses on the world of social networking sites.”
Like cribbing a line from RENT, it turns out there’s 276,000 minutes in A Life In A Day.
The crowdsourced documentary experiment from executive producer Ridley Scott and director Kevin Macdonald is a partnership between LG, YouTube and the Sundance Institute to document one day (July 24th 2010) around the world. According to a press release from yesterday, the great culling of digital ‘celluoid’ has begun under Macdonald and 20 other editors.
Screencap from NY Daily News. Pete Souza/White House
For the 49th birthday of the President of the United States, you’d think it was the saddest day ever if you were the New York Daily News.
The Gotham tabloid started this piece about the President’s special day in true fashion: “It’s your party, Mr. President. You can cry if you want to.” It doesn’t hurt to run a file photo of the President staring at a plate of cupcakes like it was a handful of oil.
Back to the plate at hand: the photo (left) shares a strange similarity to when Helen Thomas celebrated her 89th birthday and received a plate of cupcakes from the President (and he’s smiling too!)
In fact, the photo is from last year while Obama “watches the flame on the candle as he walks to the Brady Briefing Room to present cupcakes to Hearst White House columnist Helen Thomas in honor of her birthday, Aug. 4, 2009.”
Image is the most important tool in campaigns and social media. This isn’t a startling fact or groundbreaking for anyone remotely connected to the upcoming primaries in 2010. It becomes something worth exploring when candidatestry to promote themselves through new media concepts, when the established idea of a TV ad feels as fake as the faux-humility it promotes.
Long live the king of CNN’s prime-time block: Piers Morgan.
The rumored hopeful was confirmed as headed to the cable news network according to The Wrap. Jeff Gaspin, president of NBC Universal TV, confirmed the former host of America’s Got Talent joining the network during a press tour earlier today.
The rest of the details aren’t publicly available yet; Gaspin gave a brief answer to Morgan having dual duty at NBC and CNN (“Yes,” Gaspin said.)
Like the ending for any Inglourious Basterd, Bob Kerrey’s bid for Motion Picture Association of America Chairman is up in celluloid smoke. The former senator and president of New School rejected the MPAA’s offer as the organization’s head lobbyist.
The Wrap reached Kerrey for comment, We couldn’t reach agreement and I called to suggest we break off talks. They agreed…[t]he decision was mutual. I like them a lot and wish them well.”
Hillary Rosen with Susan Axelrod, Wendi Deng and Rupert Murdoch at 2010 Brunch
There’s a silver lining in today’s flash monsoon with SKDKnickerbocker‘s hiring of Hillary Rosen, pictured above. FishbowlDC reports on Rosen’s new gig, which “follows the return of Principal Anita Hill, who left the company to serve as President Obama’s Communications Director.”
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