CNN ousts Rick Sanchez over Jon Stewart rant

Hollywood Reporter

CNN issued a statement Friday announcing that anchor Rick Sanchez has been let go from the network after giving a radio interview in which he insinuated Jon Stewart was a bigot and CNN was "run by Jews."

“Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company," the statement read. "We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.“

Sanchez let loose on "The Daily Show's" Stewart while appearing on the " Stand Up! with Pete Dominick" SiriusXM radio show Friday morning.

Sanchez, who is Cuban American, said there's racism in the media "not just [from] the right," but also "elite, Northeast establishment liberals" that "deep down, when they look at a guy like me, they see a guy automatically who belongs in the second tier, and not the top tier."

He pointed to a personal experience with an unnamed CEO exec calling him "more as John Quinones," referring to the Hispanic ABC News reporter.

A rep for Stewart had no comment.

An insider says he may discuss this on "The Daily Show" on Monday.

Jon Stewart and David Letterman joked about the Rick Sanchez controversy on Saturday evening as hosts of Comedy Central's "Night Of Too Many Stars."

CNN fired former anchor Sanchez Friday after he let loose on "The Daily Show" host and Jewish people in the media while appearing on the "Stand Up! with Pete Dominick" Sirius XM radio show.

Stewart brought up the issue in his opening monologue to "Stars," which he hosted at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre.

In talking about how people should donate for autism education, for which the show raises money, Stewart said: "If you went on radio and said the Jews control the media...you may want to hold on to your money."

But if Sanchez was right about the Jews, Stewart also suggested, "All he has to do is apologize to us, and we'll hire him back."

The Sanchez topic came up again when Letterman made a surprise guest appearance. The late-night host told Stewart that he was just in the city "helping Rick Sanchez clean out his office."

Even Tom Brokaw got in on the fun in an appearance later in the evening in which he took a jab at Sanchez as well.

The "Night Of Too Many Stars" will air on Comedy Central on Oct. 21.

Larry King to Quit Show this Fall

The Wall Street Journal

CNN Ratings at all-time low

 

Larry King said Tuesday that he will end his nightly talk show on CNN in the fall, after a quarter century marked by high-profile interviews, and more recently by sagging ratings.

"It's time to hang up the nightly suspenders," Mr. King, 76, said at the top of his 9 p.m. show Tuesday, adding that he would continue to host "while a replacement is found."

Mr. King's "Larry King Live" has long been CNN's flagship prime-time show. The native New Yorker, who made his CNN debut in 1985, became one of the most recognizable interviewers of all time, donning his trademark suspenders and lobbing questions across the table to U.S. presidents, world leaders and celebrities.

Mr. King's departure comes as the Time Warner Inc. news network is making moves to reverse a long slide in its prime-time viewership, falling far behind Fox News and often below General Electric Co.'s MSNBC, according to figures from Nielsen Co. Fox News is owned by News Corp., which also owns the Wall Street Journal.

Last week, CNN announced that it is bringing on former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to co-host a new evening show in the 8 p.m. hour, replacing the Campbell Brown, who said she was leaving because of her poor ratings.

In a memo to CNN staff, CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein said that Mr. King "is not leaving CNN" and that he would continue to appear in periodic specials on the network.

CNN said in a statement that it would announce plans for its 9 p.m. hour in "the weeks ahead." A spokeswoman said in an email that there are "a number of options."

Reports in the British press have speculated that "America's Got Talent" judge Piers Morgan could be in line to take over Mr. King's job. John Ferriter, Mr. Morgan's manager and a former agent for Mr. King, declined to comment on Mr. Morgan's plans, but described Mr. King as "a legend in the business."

Meanwhile, Katie Couric, whose contract to anchor the "CBS Evening News" expires around the end of May 2011, has not ruled out moving to CNN, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr. King's show has seen its ratings sag significantly this year, but did see a bump in June among viewers between 25 and 54 years old, according to CNN. Nevertheless, his average audience among those viewers was still less than half that of Fox News's Sean Hannity and trailed MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, his competition in the 9 p.m. hour.

During Tuesday night's show, former first lady Nancy Reagan, ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer and TV host Regis Philbin each called in to speak with Mr. King about his departure.

"I'll miss your suspenders, I'll miss your voice, I'll miss everything," Mr. Philbin said.

Piers Morgan to Replace Larry King in CNN Deal

Telegraph UK

 

The Britain's Got Talent judge and former newspaper editor is on the verge of signing a four-year contract to take over King's primetime show in the autumn.

He has built a profile in the US as a judge on America's Got Talent, which is made by rival network NBC. CNN executives were also impressed by his British chat show, Piers Morgan's Life Stories, in which he interviewed Gordon Brown.

King, 76, has reigned over American television for decades, with the Larry King Show first airing in 1985. However, his ratings for the first three months of this year fell to an all-time low of just 771,000 viewers, down 43 per cent in the last year.

Morgan is expected to quit his role on Britain's Got Talent and base himself permanently in the US. Simon Cowell has also indicated that he will not take part in the early audition stages of the talent show, leaving its future in some doubt.

Brown Out -- Spitzer In?

Washington Examiner

It's official: Campbell Brown's prime-time show on CNN is toast, sources say.

The ratings are down 6 percent from last year, at 159,000 viewers in the coveted 25-to-54 demographic, CNN says. Mediaite took Brown's spin and reported that she asked to break her contract months ago, but insiders are saying she was getting heat to leave. She hasn't been featured in recent CNN promotions and was present at the CNN Newsmaker Breakfast last month but not a featured talent.

Insiders are buzzing about how Brown's falling ratings may lead CNN U.S. President Jonathan Klein to eat his words and bring back a "head-butting debate" show he once detested ala "Crossfire."

The network is even considering bringing in disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a friend of Klein, to panel the show. Spitzer has been a guest on Brown's show and filled in for MSNBC's anchor Dylan Ratigan's show Monday afternoon.

When Yeas & Nays reached out to Spitzer about the possibility of joining the team, he briskly shut it down saying, "Nope. Nope."

"I've been there once or twice, twice, maybe," Spitzer continued.

As for CNN, spokeswoman Christa Robinson said, "There has been a lot of talk about CNN lately. As always, we are not going to comment on any speculation that may be out there."

Brown would not comment on the record.

Ted Turner Longs For Another Shot At CNN

Bloomberg

Ted Turner, the cable television pioneer who became one of the richest Americans, recalls the pain of losing his job at Time Warner Inc., his wife, the actress Jane Fonda, and $7 billion of his fortune.

“It was like having my heart ripped out,” Turner said yesterday in an interview in New York. The founder of Turner Broadcasting System and the 24-hour cable news channel CNN, Turner said that he has “a couple billion” dollars left, including $700 million in Treasury bills.

While contemporaries such as News Corp. Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Rupert Murdoch, Liberty Media Corp.’s John Malone and Viacom Inc.’s Sumner Redstone keep competing in the media industry, Turner says that he doesn’t have enough money to get back in the business. He now focuses on nuclear disarmament, global climate change, women’s rights, and the environment.

“I’m working on the issues that are life or death for us,” said Turner, 70, who co-chairs the Nuclear Threat Initiative along with Sam Nunn, a former Democratic Senator from Georgia. “What I’m trying to do is stay relevant.”

The CNN founder, known for provocative comments in his 40- year career, has lost none of his passion for news. He says 24- hour coverage of fighting worldwide has made war tougher for people to stomach.

War ‘Obsolete’

“War is obsolete,” Turner said. “The last time someone surrendered was Japan and that was 60 years ago. The Afghans will never surrender. We will just get tired and come home. We’ve already given up on Iraq and there’s oil in Iraq, there’s no oil in Afghanistan.”

Turner quit the media business three years ago when he left the board of Time Warner, based in New York. The company bought Turner’s cable channels, also including TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network, in 1996, making him its largest individual shareholder. Turner lost $7 billion when Time Warner’s stock collapsed in the wake of the 2001 merger with AOL, the Internet business it is now shedding.

Discussing the growing value of cable networks in the U.S., Turner said, “I feel like a dummy.” Mocking himself, he sings, “You let the big one get away.”

Turner, who founded CNN in 1980, said that if he got his wish to run the network again, he would increase coverage of countries including China.

“If I had the money, I’d think seriously about getting control of Time Warner and getting CNN to focus on serious journalism,” Turner said in a separate interview from his eighth-floor office at Turner Enterprises Inc. in downtown Atlanta. “They’re doing a good job but they could do better.”

Forbes List

Time Warner’s stock dropped 60 percent in three years following the AOL merger’s completion in January 2001. Turner, once ranked among the richest Americans in the Forbes 400 list, was listed at number 196 in this year’s list, with an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion.

Before Time Warner lost so much value, Turner says he had given away much of his money. His largest gift was a $1 billion pledge in 1997 to establish the United Nations Foundation. So far, $750 million of the pledge has gone to the organization, Turner said. He said he has the rest set aside.

‘Like a Joint’

“If you were around at the time, I gave everybody a hundred thousand dollars if they came up with anything,” Turner said. “I just couldn’t hold onto it. I wanted to keep it moving. I get a dollar, I give it to you, you spend it, somebody else gets it. You know, pass it around. You know, it’s kind of like a joint -- you just pass it around, light it up, you know, share with your friends.”

Turner’s Atlanta offices are filled with memorabilia from his years in media and sailing, including his 1977 America’s Cup victory aboard Courageous. Three swords sit on his coffee table; a photo with Warren Buffett hangs on a nearby wall.

Turner Enterprises owns about 2 million acres in 12 U.S. states and Argentina. More than 50,000 bison roam on parts of his land, according to the company. Some of those bison wind up in burgers and other dishes at Ted’s Montana Grill, a restaurant chain he co-founded in 2002.

Ted’s has more than 50 outlets, according to its Web site. One of the restaurants is on the ground floor of the Atlanta offices, where a sign out front reads, “Eat here and we both can live.”

Turner said he bought much of his land from energy companies. They retained the rights to oil, coal or natural gas found on the property, while he is entitled to royalties.

“My land value has gone down,” Turner said. “I’m not in a position to buy anything substantial. I will still look at anything adjacent to me.”

Turner said he has learned to live with less, yet he still bemoans the decline in his net worth.

“To drop out of that league, that was hard to do,” Turner said. “I’ve had the experience of being on top and riding the roller coaster down again, nearly to the bottom. You know, if you economize and don’t buy new airplanes or long-range jets, or that sort of thing, you can get by on a billion or two.”

CNN Launches Mideast News Center

from WorldScreen

ABU DHABI: CNN has opened its new news-gathering and production hub in the Middle East, which will host the global network's first daily live news show from the region.

Tony Maddox, the managing director and executive VP of CNN International, officially opened CNN Abu Dhabi today alongside Phil Kent, the chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting System, and Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent. “The Middle East has played a significant role in CNN’s heritage and is part of our DNA, two of our earliest bureaus were in Cairo and Jerusalem,” said Maddox. “This region unquestionably plays an integral part in world affairs, and the new hub in Abu Dhabi gives us the opportunity to get to the heart of the rich and diverse stories across the political, business, social and cultural spectrums.”

“The establishment of a permanent broadcast and production centre in the Middle East by CNN is a significant and unique move by a Western news broadcaster,” he continued. “It gives CNN a powerful base from which to coordinate seven regional bureaus and showcase a new daily news show from the Middle East.”

The facility in Abu Dhabi will coordinate newsgathering for the seven CNN operations in the region—Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, Dubai, Jerusalem, Kabul and Islamabad—with a staff of more than two dozen. Built as a fully high-definition and online production facility, CNN Abu Dhabi houses a four-camera digital studio with 24/7 live capability, edit suites and fully integrated newsroom.

With CNN Abu Dhabi the network launches its first daily live news show from the Middle East, Prism, hosted by Stan Grant. Also due to be produced at CNN Abu Dhabi are Inside the Middle East, now in its sixth year, and Marketplace Middle East, which launched two years ago.