Last night on The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert announced that he would give in to the cries of “Carolaniacs” and put his name forward as a candidate for President (or “President of the United States of South Carolina”) in his native state for the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary. (The popular outcry, oddly enough, exists not just in his …
News Media
Hunting for Drama After a Quick Romney Call
If the all-night toss-up call in the Iowa caucuses was a nail-biter, last night’s New Hampshire primary was—what’s the opposite? A nail-grower? Each network news division called the race for Mitt Romney at 8 p.m. ET on the dot (after hinting at the non-surprise outcome beforehand). So what was left to keep viewers around on a …
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before: Olbermann At Odds With His Network
It seems like barely a year ago, because it was, that Keith Olbermann left MSNBC after a series of feuds with management involving everything from political donations to behind-the-scenes personality clashes. Olbermann quickly …
Standing 8 Count: Romney Squeaker Tests the Media’s Math Skills
Eight people in Iowa are the most important figures in American politics this morning, and I don’t mean the ones who are running for President. The eight folks who provided Mitt Romney’s margin of victory in the Iowa caucus—apparently in somewhere Clinton County (above)—may not have settled the Republican race, but they made for a …
ABC Shuffle: Amanpour Out, Stephanopoulos Back In, Tapper Robbed
Withits Sunday-morning news show This Week trailing third in the ratings, ABC has decided to reshuffle the decks and turn back the clock. Christiane Amanpour, the international-news reporter who took over the show in 2010, is returning to CNN to host an international-affairs show (while also reporting for ABC); and she’ll be replaced …
TV Weekend: A Little Louie, a Little Luck, a Little More Debating
Earlier this week, I posted my Top 10 TV series of 2011 list, with Louis CK‘s remarkable first-person show Louie at #1. You’ll have to wait until next year for the next season, but in the meantime, there’s a Louis CK special this …
Dead Tree Alert: The Trump Primary
To the list of absolutely crucial wedge issues distinguishing the Republican primary candidates, this week added a new one: What is your position on Donald Trump? In my latest TIME column (subscription required), I look at the …
Celebrity Apprentice: Donald Trump to Moderate GOP Debate
Because the Republican presidential primary has been too stodgy and dignified lately–what with all the sex-harassment eruptions, memory-lapse gaffes and “SexyBack” parodies—Donald Trump will host a GOP debate in Iowa on Dec. …
The Morning After: With New Sex Allegations, The Cain Trainwreck Adds Another Car
I don’t yet know how history will remember the Herman Cain candidacy for President, but the pizza king /erstwhile GOP frontrunner has given us what I believe is a first in Presidential campaigning: the candidate went on a cable-news show yesterday evening and scooped his own accuser on a charge of a 13-year extramarital affair. Asked …
Hey, Twitter, the Governor Is Totally Gonna Tell the Principal on You
Earlier this year, Rep. Anthony Weiner showed us how an elected official can make himself look like an idiot over tweets that he sends to the electorate. Now Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has demonstrated how an elected official can …
Poll: Fox News Viewers Less Informed (Except About the Nutritional Value of Pepper Spray)
So here’s a finding that may or may not surprise you: a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of New Jersey residents found that Fox News viewers were less well-informed about current events than respondents who watched no news at all. Our public discourse being the predictable thing it is, this means it’s time to debunk the poll and/or …
The Morning After: The Good, the Sad and the Odd, in a Night of Big Interviews
I had to save Gabby Giffords for last.
Giffords gave her first TV interview on ABC Monday night, the same night that NBC’s Bob Costas talked former Penn State defensive co-ordinator Jerry Sandusky, for Rock Center with Brian Williams, on the charges of child rape against Sandusky. The interviews aired in the same time slot—one a …
NYC Un-Occupies Wall Street, Manages the Media
New York City police in riot gear raided and cleared the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park around 1 a.m. Tuesday. As it happened—coincidentally or not—this was past press time for local papers. There was no mention of the raid in the New York Times on my doorstep this morning, and when I woke up around 5 …