Four before the Apocalypse

1. Icahn has newz. Poynter

2. Google gives up on news print. Boston Phoenix

3. Ebersol is out at NBC. LA Times

4. Remember the time in Tora Bora when we almost got him (long before we did) Reporter in Exile

Isikoff heads to NBC

Investigative reporter Michael Isikoff is jumping ship from Newsweek to join NBC. Here's the scoop from Gorkana USA:

Michael Isikoff, an Investigative Reporter at Newsweek, will be joining NBC News as National Investigative Correspondent. Michael, who worked at Newsweek for 16 years, will continue to be based in Washington, D.C. He will report for all platforms of NBC News including NBC Nightly News, Today and MSNBC.

Fear of the fact-checker

The Sunday morning news show "This Week" on ABC has teamed with PolitiFact to do a post-interview fact-check of whatever claims are made by guests during the course of the program.

"Meet the Press" host David Gregory was asked if he'd support a similar arrangement on his show. He said he'd rather leave it up to the viewers to sort fact from fiction.

Which sounds like a weak way to rationalize that MTP didn't think of the fact-check idea first. But the question remains: What harm could come from providing viewers with additional information with which to sort things out? For one, it would make high-profile spinners uncomfortable and the host look woefully unprepared. Is that the real reason why Gregory balked?

Steve Benen at Washington Monthly questions Gregory's strained logic:

Gregory's comments suggest a more traditional approach: let viewers figure things out "on their own terms." Why separate fact from fiction for news consumers when they can do that on their own?

Perhaps because they aren't well equipped to do this on their own, and rely on professional news outlets to provide them with reliable information.

(found via Romenesko)

Four today

1. Steve Lambert at the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group is merely asking for suggestions; the Miami Herald is asking readers for donations. NBC Miami

2. Dan Kennedy defends journalists' use of anonymous sources (and I agree with him). The Guardian

3. Layoffs at the New Republic. Politico

4. Edmund Andrews, the New York Times economics reporter who wrote about his mortgage problems, has taken a buyout from the paper (but not so he can make his mortgage, he says). NYO

Antonio's 'Watergate'

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gets caught watering his lawn outside the hours proscribed by the cities water conservation ordinance. From NBC4:

During the past month at the mayor's house, back yard sprinklers were running at 2 a.m. on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday -- all in violation of the law.

Other government got caught, too.

(via fisbowlLA)

Barely news

It may shock you to learn that local television stations don't always have the highest standards when it comes to their news broadcasts. KNBC seems eager to wallow in this reality, as illustrated by the screen shot of the station's top stories captured by Kevin Roderick at LA Observed.

Roderick writes:

Notice in the screen grab that the very top story in the left-hand column is that PETA ads feature stars who also are...naked. Not visible is another story slightly down page about celebrities in bikinis, with a photo of Britney Spears. I know local TV stations are on life support these days, but geez.

Indeed, everything on the page starts to look like a double entendre.

Roderick adds:

Perhaps this all fits with KNBC's hire yesterday of Alycia Lane, a newscaster-slash-tabloid fave who first came to national attention for her bikini photos — a hire that one newsroom source calls a real "head scratcher" in these times of cutbacks.

You might also have noticed in the upper left of the page NBC's new mood rating tool, which is designed to make you feel part of it all.

I am laughing at NBC.

Fake news generates real coverage

The Los Angeles Times ran a real story in today's business section about a fake story that made yesterday's front-page touting a new NBC television show called Southland.

I'd never heard of Southland until this dust up, which indicates to me that the ad has proven to be fairly effective. I wonder how much of the "significant premium" Publisher Eddy Hartenstein charged NBC for A1 placement went toward the predictable controversy and the media attention that be generated as a result?

A journalism professor tells the Times why fake news stories are ethically troubling:

"It's unwise and ethically problematic to have advertising morph into news content and style," said Bob Steele, a journalism values scholar at the Poynter Institute and a professor at DePauw University. "Each step may seem like a small one. But each time you cut a corner, you create weakness in the overall product."

And expect more controversy, and more media attention, from another ad in the Times for another dramatic production:

Staff members also objected to an advertising supplement scheduled to run with Sunday's Calendar section. The four-page section promotes the film "The Soloist," which is based on a series of articles by Times columnist Steve Lopez. Although labeled as an ad supplement, the section's typography and layout mimic those of a regular Times news section.

LAT, LAO, fishbowlLA, WSJ, NYT

Veggie lovers

Given the full-frontal brain assault perpetrated by most Super Bowl advertisers, it's tough to see how NBC can claim PETA's pro-vegetable commercial is too racy for network standards. But since NBC has, that's good enough reason for me to link to it here (and, yes, I know it's a publicity stunt).

How to lose a lot of money in 4 to 8 weeks

The New York Film Academy has teamed with NBC News to shake down the naive and idealistic.

Get 4 weeks of digital journalism instruction for the low price of $4,000; get another 4 weeks for an additional $1,800.

The full digital training course will run you $34,000, with classes starting in March 2008. Tuition includes a speech by MSNBC's Lester Holt.

As with all the best schools, they're advertising on a billboard in Hollywood.