With little to no time to prepare for the interview Chetry asked intelligent and good questions that provided the viewers with more information on the situation.

At the same time Fox News’ ‘Fox & friends’ were spending their time chatting with Chris Wallace about what would be on his Sunday show.

Chetry was making news while the F&F crew made small talk. If you want real news in the mornings turn to “American Morning” on CNN!

One Eyed Blogger

But this morning F&FW is a vast disappointment and embarrassing itself. As of this time the show is an hour into the program and they have to yet make one mention of the invasion of Georgia by Russian troops, tanks and air attacks. At 55 minutes in they cut to a statement by President Bush on the murder of a US citizen in Beihging. Preceding the statement Bush made another statement on the Russian attack of Georgia. Even after this, when the anchors came back they only referenced Bush’s comments on the knife attack in China.

The show has made time for reports, interviews and discussion of John Edwards affair. Much coverage of the knife attack in China. Even a report of a fat cat finding a home. But they ignore the invasion of a US ally by a nuclear power and a former Super Power???

The fighting between Russia and Georgia is the lead story on the Fox News and CNN websites! But completely ignored by F&F?

Reportedly one reason for the move of bringing Alisyn Camerota onto the show was the need for a news anchor with the chops to handle serious news. Camerota certainly could handle dealing with news of the military conflict.

Until the shows producers can discern what true news is and what the important news stories of the day are then it doesn’t matter who the hosts are.  If changes aren’t made behind the scenes to give the show credability then they could have Edward R Murrow sitting on the set and the show would still be an embarrassment.

One Eyed Man

update: At 8:09am the show finally mentioned the Russia/Georgia conflict. It was mentioned in the headline segment.  But no in depth coverage. But the good news is after that we are getting an update on medical news that children should not be given cough syrup.  Yeah, that is more important news.

2nd update: After giving the producers the chance to correct their lack of coverage of the Russian attack in their neighboring country of Georgia, and watching the entire show there was no more mention of this story. Out of 3 hours of airtime the story was given 30 seconds during a single headline update and the soundbite from President Bush. During Bush’s comments F&F ran a lower third only about the Chinese knife attack.

The producers did find time during the show to have a 3 minute segment about Brett Farve being on the cover of a video game. They found time for 2 seperate segments with a rep from Bass Pro Shops  for a total of 5 minutes of airtime. Additionally they found time for a 3 minute segment on how to install a floor with a rep from Home Depot.

11 minutes given to these none news stories and all of 30 secounds given to a war where over a 1000 people, many innocent civilians, have been killed in attacks by Russian forces upon a soverign country that is an ally of the United States.

This blogger was exceptionally disappointed that the show had Col. Hunt (ret) on twice to discuss the security at Olympic games but they failed to either time take advantage of his expertise and ask him any questions about the Russian-Georgian war. A terrible waste of an opportunity.

The John Edwards affair story was given excessive coverage. As was the stabbing death of an American tourist in Beijing. Did the producers think that the viewers were unable to follow a 3rd story or did they think the Russian-Georgian war is not important? Either way it shows a lack of competance in the Fox News producers that reaches the level of a need to have them replaced.

For F&F Weekends to be taken seriously it will need more than a change of players on the sofa.

One Eyed Man

Correction: I have realized that the Russian-Georgian war was mentioned once more during a 2nd headline update. During the update the wrong video was run and we saw video of missing child Kaylee, instead of President Bush. This update raised the total time given to the story to a grand total of 1 minute. Twice that given to Prince Chunk getting a new home, but still 1/3 that given to the “Madden Curse” and how it might effect Brett Farve this season. Good to know the F&F producers know what is news and how to spend their precious airtime.

The interview is full of interesting quotes that show the friction and contempt that exists between the two channels and their management but the best has to be Griffin’s, “What they are trying to do is play a game here,” Griffin continued. “THEY made the business decision to create an ideological network. We didn’t. They were the ones that got in bed with the Bush Administration, so that most of the time, where did the Bush Administration officials come out and make their points? Fox News. We didn’t. You brought it up, but it’s a great story because you can’t trust a word they say.”

This is not the first time that Fox News has been accused of being in bed with the Bush Administration. One only has to watch a short while before seeing that Fox certainly is the most willing to make sure that the administration’s positions are clearly and well stated, many times. And some of their people that are allowed to state their personal opinions make it clear that they agree with the Bush Administration, but to say “you can’t trust a word they say” is a bit far.

Fox News does have many hard news reporters and anchors that are very good and work hard to make sure that they give equal time to both sides of the political spectrum.  They work hard to hold their personal opinions in check and present the story fairly. For MSNBC to be saying this a bit hypocritical given some of NBC’s problems with accurate reporting. The problems that ‘Dateline’ alone has had could fill more than one column.

To most viewers Fox News would appear to have a slant to the Republicans and conservatives, but to the same viewers MSNBC certainly has a slant to the Democrats and liberals. All media has a slant. The job for viewers is to recognize the slant and not depend upon one source for all their news. Watch Fox News, MSNBC and CNN. Even the network evening news. Read different papers and magazines. Listen to talk radio. But always remember they all have a slant.

One Eyed Man

Monday we awoke to news on Inside Cable News that ‘Fox & friends 1st’ is history as ‘Fox & friends’ will now be starting at 6am, hosted by Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, and Brian Kilmeade hosting all three hours of the newly expanded show. Additionally we learned that the position of news headline reader was gone and would be handled by F&F host Gretchen Carlson.

“WHAT ABOUT ALISYN???!!!!”  asked the viewers and her fans on her blog, ‘Alisyn In the Greenroom’.

Later in the day TVNewser reported  that Alisyn Camerota was being made the weekend host of F&F.

Still fans have been uneasy and skeptical of this since the change happened once Camerota had gone on vacation. The viewers recalled times before when hosts have gone on vacation to not be seen again (Donna Fiducia, Laurie Dhue, Linda Vester (actually maternity leave in Vester’s case, not vacation, but still never returned, as promised)) only to be later given word that they are no longer at Fox News. Or others that went on vacation to rarely be seen again (Page Hopkins, Brigitte Quinn, Uma Pemmaraju).

I was skeptical too, so I reached out to see what I could find out.

Yesterday I heard from sources close to the happenings at F&F and I can now report that it is a 100%certainty that Alisyn Camerota WILL BE BACK on July 26th, hosting the weekend F&F. She will be joining Clayton Morris and Dave Briggs as the hosts. Ainsley Earhardt will no longer be on the show. Additionally, Camerota will be doing the news headlines also, same as Carlson does on the weekday version. This means Courtney Friel will no longer be on the show performing those duties. (Although this blogger would not be surprised to see Friel coming on the show to report entertainment news.)

(A ‘cut & paste’ look at the future of the weekend show)

Earhardt and Friel will remain with Fox News continuing in their other duties.

My sources tell me that management and Camerota are seeing this move as giving Camerota a higher profile position. The weekend show has more viewers than the weekday 6am show had. Also Camerota will be getting 6 hours of hosting now compared to the previous 5 hours. This is NOT considered a demotion for Camerota nor is she going to disappear, as others have in the past.

Management felt the weekend version needed a host with more experience and ability to handle the hard news and give a greater gravitas to the show. Camerota has proved her ability in this time slot when she hosted the show previously. It is felt that Camerota’s journalistic and hosting experience, plus her quick wit and charm will be the new spark that the weekend show needs to revive it.

This move worked in concert with management’s wish to streamline the weekday show into one 3 hour block to compete directly against CNN’s “American Morning” and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, both starting at 6am ET. (This blogger expects that FNC will shortly be trumpting any wins against “American Morning” hosted by Kiran Chetry, a former F&F host that was fired by Fox during contract negotiations that became ugly.)

Sources close to Camerota tell me that she is looking forward to the new (or is it old?) shift of working the weekend show. She will no longer be getting up at 3am everyday, nor going to bed before sunset. Camerota is excited to no longer being “a zombie” as she tried to get by on little sleep. This will allow her more time with her husband and three young children. Which she told the source “you can’t put a price tag on that”.

Camerota is also expected to be acting as a fill in anchor on other weekday shows. She hosted ‘Fox News Watch’ for the July 5th, episode, to positive reviews.

Camerota’s blog will continue but expect less activity during the week, with a flurry of activity on weekends while she is hosting the show.

The future of the ‘After Show Show’ is questionable. For the near future it is expected to continue M-F, but often Doocy has made it clear he does not particularly enjoy it and rushes to end the show. Without Camerota there Carlson won’t have another enthusiastic partner to talk with. (Kilmeade bolts immediately at 9am so to do his radio show.)  There is the possibility that the “After Show Show” will be picked up on weekends.

This change for the weekend F&F show is exactly what this blog had said was needed to save the show. Camerota is an excellent choice to bring in to shore up the show and give it a star that it needs. Camerota already has an established repore with the audience and should be able to give the weekday viewers a reason to give the weekend show another look.

Briggs and Morris have worked with Camerota when they filled in for Kilmeade and Doocy during the week. There was already an ease there between the hosts, which bodes well for the weekend show to have a comfort level right off.

What about the weekday show? This blog is taking a ‘wait and see’ approach.  I am skeptical if Gretchen Carlson has the spark needed to carry the whole three hours with Doocy and Kilmeade. The three can have a tense relationship at times already. I expect we will continue to see the show have a more serious tone with more and more politics as the election season gets into full swing with the approaching conventions and November elections. The show will miss the breath of fun and the break from the three hosts that Camerota brought to the show.

 One Eyed Man

Greg Kelly is not the first Fox News anchor to make the move from FNC to Fox 5. Dari Alexander, the 5pm news anchor at Fox 5 used to be a news anchor for FNC.

Fox 5 is owned and opperated by News Corp, the parent company of Fox News Channel. Roger Ailes is the president of both Fox News Channel and the O&O News Corp stations group. So this just a move within the larger News Corp family. 

This is interesting in that it would remove Greg Kelly from the possible choices of anchors with experience on F&F to be moved to the weekend show to shore it up and help give it credibility.

One Eyed Man

The show is hosted by Dave Briggs, Ainsley Earhardt, and Clayton Morris. Courtney Friel does headline updates and Rick Reichmuth does the weather. All of them are likable people and seem to be trying hard to put on a good show.

The format is more laid back, relaxed and enjoyable than the weekday version. They don’t take themselves as seriously and make more room for fun and laughs. (Something the weekday show needs more of.)

The show has seen many show host shuffles. Juliet Huddy, Mike Jerrick, Julian Phillips, Page Hopkins, Kelly Wright, Greg Kelly, Alisyn Camerota and Kiran Chetry have all done weekend duty over the last few years before the current set of hosts took over. Many feel that the combos of ‘Huddy, Jerrick, & Phillips’ or of ‘Camerota, Chetry and Wright’ were the best and strongest set of hosts.  

Huddy & Jerrick now have their own syndicated talk show. Phillips is no longer with Fox News.  Camerota is the host of the 6am hour  and does news headline updates on the weekday version of F&F. Chetry is now the weekday morning news co-anchor on CNN’s ‘American Morning’. Wright is a reporter out of D.C. and anchors on midday on weekends.

Ratings have been a problem for the entire weekend line up on Fox News and ‘Fox & friends’ has been no exception in the slump.  Interestingly the Saturday after Tim Russert’s death weekday hosts Doocy, Camerota and Kilmeade were brought in for a special show. The ratings for that morning were way up. In the same range of the weekday show, with a high demo number also.  This certainly demonstrates given the right set of circumstances that viewers will tune in to the weekend version as well as they do the weekday.

The main problem I have seen with the weekend F&F is that all three hosts are fairly new to the format and lack seasoning. They need someone that has more experience and can be the true anchor for the show. Also that person needs to have a strong background in journalism and capable of handling hard news when it happens. Currently none of the hosts have that or have the credibility with the viewers.

Courtney Friel would be better suited to doing celebrity reporting than being the news headlines anchor for the show. Friel is very pretty and a nice, friendly girl but lacks any credibility when it comes to hard news. The management should have never put her in this role.

If management were to bring in a seasoned, capable host that could help bring the others along the show would be greatly helped. ‘Who to bring in?’ is the question. There have been strong rumors that Megan Henderson from Dallas is going to be joining the show as the female host. I saw no reason to think she would be the answer to the problem. She would be a new face to the viewers and lacks the gravitas that the show needs.

Fox would do better to go to their deep bench of anchors that are already established with the viewers and give the show over to them. Any two of the three current hosts would be acceptable to stay and work with the new person brought in to shore up the show. But the show does need a lead personality and a star. Currently none of the ones on the show are up to the challenge. Every franchise needs that one star that takes the ball and makes something happen in the clutch. F&FW doesn’t have that person yet, but given that person the show, and all involved would improve.

One Eyed Man

This idea worked very well and helped bring some of the old fun that ‘Fox & friends’ used to have before they tried to become more serious and declared themselves “The Official Morning Show of the 2008 Election”.

The week kicked off Monday with fill-in host Patti Ann Browne sharing a prom photo in which she looked very cute. Patti Ann Browne was filling in for Alisyn Camerota, who was off for the day. (Several times over the last few weeks Patti Ann Browne has been filling in as Alisyn Camerota has taken days off or filled in for Gretchen Carlson. Patti Ann has done an excellent job and should be considered by management as Camerota’s full time fill in.)

Later in the show Gretchen Carlson shared some of her photos from the 80s, including her high school graduation photo and her reign as Miss America 1989. At the end of the show Colin Hay, former front man of 80’s group “Men at Work” played an acoustic version of the hit “Down Under”.

Tuesday the theme continued with photos from host Brian Kilmeade and the music group ‘The Smithereens’ performed their big hit “A Girl Like You”.

Wednesday Alisyn Camerota shared some 80’s photo including a sizzling hot photo of her in a bikini. Then Shannon appeared and sang her hit single “Let the Music Play”.

Thursday Steve Doocy showed his 80’s photos including a strange brush with a punk phase. He claimed it was a tv station promo but we think he was hoping to be a back up singer for Billy Idol.

Grand Master Flash stopped by and taught Gretchen Carlson and Alisyn Camerota to spin the vinyl while demonstrations of break dancing took place.

Friday the weekend gang took over showing their photos and hosted a musical guest. Unfortunately my DVR didn’t record and I only saw a few moments of the show.

Whoever at ‘Fox & friends’ came up with the idea of 80’s week deserves a bonus for bringing the fun back to the show and getting them to leave the studio again and acknowledge the fans outside.

One Eyed Man

 One Eyed Man

Page Hopkins bucked the trend on F&F of their ill advised choosing to refuse to say the name of Matthew Murray while reporting on this story.  Page was filling in for Alisyn Camerota this morning on F&F1st. Later in the morning during F&F Gretchen Carlson took over the headline news update duties, normally done by Camerota. While doing the updates Carlson continued her refusal to say Murray’s name. This F&F boycott of Murray’s name was furthered by now the screen graphics not listing his name. Later in the show when Carlson, Doocy and Kilmeade interviewed guest Jeanine Pirro about the legalities of carrying a gun and shooting in defense of others, the hosts still would not say Murray’s name, referring to him only as ‘the shooter’.

This blogger has noticed that the other anchors and reporters on Fox News (or CNN) continue to mention Murray when discussing the story.  It is heartening to not see other journalists not falling down this rabbithole.

On Alisyn Camerota’s blog she posted that on Monday and Tuesday there was a heated debate between the hosts and the producers on the subject of this refusal to state Murray’s name. It seems that the producers feel it their responsiblity to provide all the information. Carlson and Camerota believe “it’s our responsibility to do whatever we can to avoid giving any unhinged, disturbed person incentive to go off the deep end.” Camerota then asked for comments of the blog readers. There have been in excess of 50 comments. The majority of the comments seem to be in support of the Carlson/Camerota position.

If F&F chooses to cater to the whims of the viewers and continues to fail to do their journalistic duty in reporting all of the news, one can only believe that the executive producer of ‘Fox & friends’ and the management of Fox News no longer care about the program being a crediable news source and have ceded editoral control of the show to Gretchen Carlson.

One wonders how Doocy and Kilmeade feel about having become sidekicks on Carlson’s show?

One Eyed Man

One Eyed Man