The Media Notepad: Stanley Cup Game 7 scores for ABC

Also: Kenya Moore out at Housewives; Fox and Sinclair team up for new syndicated true crime show; Paramount looking to sell assets Even though the recent NBA Finals naturally drew a larger audience on average, the excitement of the Stanley Cup Final was unparalleled as the series lasted seven games with historic implications. The Edmonton Oilers – who won four […]

Jeff Zucker out at CNN

  Failure to disclose romantic relationship with staff member leads to his demise In the sixteen years of writing this blog, there have been a number of media executives I’ve written about who came off as total assholes – Sam Zell, Randy Michaels, Jimmy deCastro, Michael Ferro, Jan Jeffries, Les Moonves, Marv Nyren, Larry Tisch, and probably more, enough to […]

The Think Tank: Lightfoot’s decision on journalists forces discussion on racial diversity

Lightfoot’s decision to exclude white journalists sets off firestorm. But it’s a conversation long overdue The latest dustup between the Chicago media and minority communities is unusual because the person behind it happens to be the Mayor of Chicago. On Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot – the first Black woman to be elected to the position in the city’s history, decided […]

Media outlets underachieve on a terrible, no-good day

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)   Most drop the ball on coverage on a day democracy nearly died  Wednesday’s attempted coup by President Trump and his allies brought out the worst and when everything was said and done, four people were dead and there were calls for him to resign, be impeached, or invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him. Perhaps the […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Voters lose as networks schedule dueling town halls

  ABC and NBC schedule Presidential town halls opposite each other as ratings dictate decisions instead of common sense   NBC’s decision to schedule a President Trump town hall opposite Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is so ridiculous, it’s hard to explain. A second Presidential debate was supposed to take place tonight between Trump and Biden. But Trump tested positive for […]

Chicago “City So Real” documentary heads to NatGeo

Sundance favorite on 2019 Chicago Mayoral race to be featured Six years after CNN’s inane Chicagoland documentary premiered and turned out to be a colossal flop, another made-in-Chicago documentary – this time about the most recent mayoral race, will soon have a linear TV premiere. Earlier this week, the National Geographic Channel – better known as NatGeo, bought the rights […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Fox News: Chicago is our kind of town…for crime

Chicago crime grabs more airtime than Covid-19 pandemic as the city continues to grab global headlines for gun violence  You’d think in a middle of a national health pandemic, cable news channels would focus on the issues at hand when more than 150,000 people have died from Covid-19, right? Of course not – especially when it comes to Fox News.  […]

The fridge pack (plus one): The unlucky 13 of the decade

There are flops, and then there are….flops. For every success in the most recent decade, there were products coming off so badly, you don’t know how the hell they were even conceived in the first place – you basically had to see it to believe it! If you thought the 2000s version of “The Dirty Dozen” were bad, they have […]

Rahm Emanuel, Todd Stroger get new gig

Emanuel, Stroger proves former politicians can really network well in getting media gigs Did you really think we were really getting rid of Rahm? On Tuesday, the former Mayor of Chicago announced he lined up two new gigs: one with ABC News, where he is going to be a paid contributor and an political analyst for Good Morning America, and […]

“Empire” cast stands by Jussie Smollett

(Editor’s Note: Updated to add ratings information from last night’s episode.) While Jussie Smollett’s tenure on Empire this season wound down Wednesday night, the battle on whether or not he returns to the show is just beginning. Earlier in the day Wednesday, the cast of the Fox show sent a letter to numerous executives at Disney and Fox as reported by […]

Lori Lightfoot becomes Chicago’s next Mayor

Although Chicago TV viewers skipped out on election coverage, history was made Tuesday night After numerous debates (too many in this person’s opinion), and enough rhetoric to keep Chicagoans engaged (or repelled), history was made Tuesday as Lori Lightfoot was elected Chicago’s first African-American female mayor. Lightfoot faced current Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in a runoff election for […]

Charges dropped against Jussie Smollett

Prosecutors abandon case, many questions remain In a strange twist of fate, charges against Empire cast member Jussie Smollett were dropped Tuesday morning in a move stunning everybody. Smollett claimed he was attacked by two people wearing “Make America Great Again” hats on the morning of January 29, and said the men put a noose around his neck. Many felt […]

Van Dyke trial has Chicago, local media on edge

LaQuan McDonald trial has city on edge; local media is ready to cover with CLTV airing live proceedings September 5th began the biggest trial the city has seen in decades. Police officer Jason Van Dyke is being tried for the murder of LaQuan McDonald, videotaped in October 2014 and wasn’t released until a year later, when it was shown worldwide. […]

What Rahm Emanuel’s decision means for Chicago media

The Rahmfather calls it a career as local stations could reap another political windfall from upcoming mayor’s race It was eight years ago last week when longtime Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley announced he would not seek reelection for a seventh term. Now, Chicago is at the same crossroads with the announcement last Wednesday of current mayor Rahm Emanuel deciding […]

Chance The Rapper buys Chicagoist

The South Side native gets into the media business – and takes shots at them In an unusual manner, Chance The Rapper announced some big news – by letting one of his tracks serve as a press release. In a stunning announcement, the Chicago native announced he was purchasing the website Chicagoist from public radio station WNYC in New York. […]