With Brash Hosts, Headline News Finds More Viewers in Prime Time
Date: 04 December 2006
By Noam Cohen
Noam Cohen
Glenn Beck, host of CNN Headline News, along with Nancy Grace, lawyer whose show appears at 8 pm, is part of nearly two-year-old experiment to reinvent Headline News from series of quick news summaries into brasher, personality-driven talk-TV format along lines of Fox News's evening line-up; experiment is success; Beck has increased ratings in his 7 pm time period 60 percent among all viewers since his arrival in May and 84 percent among viewers aged 25 to 54; Grace has retained triple-digit percentage increases in her time period from year before; question remains as to whether CNN networks can compete with more opinionated prime-time competition--Fox News and MSNBC, in particular--while preserving their reputation as objective news gatherer; Kenneth Jautz, CNN executive who is in charge of Headline News, compares talk shows to role of op-ed page at newspaper; controversy surrounding Grace, who was sued by family of Melinda Duckett who killed herself after appearing on show to discuss disappearance of her child, discussed; Duckett is described by Florida authorities as prime suspect in case; Beck's recent interview with Congressman-elect Keith Ellison, first Muslim elected to House, on Nov 14 noted; chart; photos (L)
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With Brash Hosts, Headline News Finds More Viewers in Prime Time
Date: 04 December 2006
By Noam Cohen
Noam Cohen
A brash, personality-driven talk-TV format along the lines of Fox News’s evening lineup is improving the prime time performance of CNN’s Headline News.
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Have Camera Phone? Yahoo and Reuters Want You to Work for Their News Service
Date: 04 December 2006
By Saul Hansell
Saul Hansell
Yahoo and Reuters, hoping to turn millions of people with digital cameras and camera phones into photojournalists, are introducing new effort to showcase photographs and video of news events submitted by public; photos and videos submitted beginning Dec 5 will be placed throughout Reuters.com and Yahoo News; Reuters says it will also start to distribute some of submissions next year to thousands of print, online and broadcast media outlets that subscribe to its news service; says it hopes to develop service devoted entirely to user-submitted photographs and video; project is among most ambitious efforts in what has become known as citizen journalism, attempts by bloggers, start-up local news sites and by global news organizations to see if readers can also become reporters; users will be able to upload photos and videos to section of Yahoo called You Witness News; photos (L)
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News Summary
Date: 04 December 2006
INTERNATIONAL A3-15 U.S-Trained Afghan Police Found Ineffective by Panel A report by the Pentagon and the State Department has found that the American-trained police force in Afghanistan is incapable of routine law enforcement, and managers of the program cannot say how many officers are on duty or where thousands of trucks and other equipment issued to police units have gone. A1 British troops opened fire on civilians in Kandahar, Afghanistan, after a suicide bomber rammed a minibus into their military convoy, wounding three soldiers, officials and witnesses said. At least 3 people were killed and 15 wounded in the bombing and the shooting afterward, hospital officials said. A14 Toll of Philippine Landslide Rescue workers began to bury victims of a landslide in the Philippines. The death toll as recorded by the Red Cross stood at 406, but officials warned that it would climb and that there was little hope of finding more survivors. The Red Cross said that with hundreds of people still missing, the final death toll could exceed 1,000. A6 Poison Inquiry Going to Russia The investigation into the poisoning of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former Russian K.G.B. operative, will probably broaden, Britain's highest ranking law enforcement officer said. News reports said British counterterrorism officers were planning to fly to Moscow to interview witnesses. A3 Pinochet in Serious Condition Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the former dictator of Chile, suffered a serious heart attack and underwent angioplasty and another surgical procedure, hospital officials and his family said. The medical team treating General Pinochet said his condition was stable, but ''extremely serious'' and ''life threatening.'' A10 Annan Says Iraq Is in Civil War Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, said Iraq had descended into a civil war that was even deadlier than the 15-year conflict that tore apart Lebanon. He joined a growing number of foreign and Iraqi leaders, policy makers and news organizations who say that Iraq is in the grip of civil war. A14 Aid Says Bush Plans Changes President Bush plans ''significant changes'' in his approach to Iraq after he reviews options drafted by an outside panel of experts and suggestions from others in the administration and Congress, Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, said. A15 OBITUARIES A23 Leonard Freed A prominent photo journalist and member of the Magnum Photography Collective who was known primarily for his in-depth coverage of African-Americans, he was 77. A23 Jeanne A. Smith An expert on sickle cell anemia who helped establish broader federal guidelines for testing newborns for the disease, she was 75. A23 NATIONAL A16-22 Video Offers Window Into Terror Suspect's Isolation Lawyers for Jose Padilla, a Brooklyn-born Muslim convert whom the Bush administration detained without charges for three and a half years, contend that a recently released video showing Mr. Padilla being taken to the dentist while he was in military detention captures the dehumanization of their client. A1 Pfizer Drug a Total Loss Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has decided to stop testing a drug that cardiologists had hoped would reduce the buildup of fatty plaques in blood vessels that can cause heart attacks. Pfizer's decision to pull the plug on the medicine renders the company's nearly $1 billion investment a total loss. A1 New Orleans Levee Work Slows For months, the Army Corps of Engineers raced through New Orleans to prepare for a hurricane season, that produced no hurricanes in the region. The corps has now moved on to the task of strengthening flood protection in New Orleans beyond its pre-Hurricane Katrina level. But the pace has slowed drastically. A20 Bush Considers Alaska Drilling President Bush is considering whether to lift the 17-year-old moratorium on energy drilling in the waters off southwestern Alaska, which would allow oil and gas companies to try to tap into more than five trillion cubic feet of natural gas that lies beneath rich fishing grounds. A16 Unfinished Work in Congress Congressional leaders said election losses had sapped Republican enthusiasm for trying to finish nine spending measures that were due Oct. 1. Congress will instead pass a stopgap measure to keep the government running until mid-February. A18 NEW YORK/REGION B1-5 A City Used to Losses Faces Another Round The prospect of Schenectady, N.Y., a once-thriving city, losing one of its two hospitals, as recommended by a state commission, seemed to some residents like a demotion in municipal rank. It signaled not only the possible loss of hundreds of jobs, but also the threatened loss of a certain civic gravity. B1 Electric Costs Up for Some Electric bills for Connecticut residents are likely to jump again, with regulators poised to approve rate increases. But residential customers of small, municipally-owned entities across the state will see no price increase. B1 Old-School School Leader Kathleen M. Cashin, a superintendent in one of New York City's toughest districts, has seen success that should be an easy reason for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein to gloat. But in many ways, her success raises questions about the thrust of their recent efforts to reshape the school bureaucracy. A1 Neediest Cases B5 ARTS E1-8 Other Projects Call Producer Ben Karlin, the departing executive producer of both ''The Daily Show'' and ''The Colbert Report,'' decided to leave those positions at year's end because the television shows were so all-consuming that they kept him from other projects. E1 BUSINESS DAY C1-18 Britain Warms to Web Ads British marketers seem to have bought into the often cited benefits of Internet advertising: that it is easy to track, enormously effective and a relative bargain. C1 Business Digest C2 EDITORIAL A24-25 Editorials: An assault on local school control; revisiting Putin's soul; when is a fish like a carrot?; Adam Cohen on voting machines. Columns: Bob Herbert, Paul Krugman. Bridge E2 Crossword E2 Metro Diary B2 TV Listings E8 Weather B6
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Have Camera Phone? Yahoo and Reuters Want You to Work for Their News Service
Date: 04 December 2006
By Saul Hansell
Saul Hansell
Yahoo and Reuters are introducing a new effort to showcase photographs and video of news events submitted by the public.
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News Summary
Date: 03 December 2006
INTERNATIONAL 3-28 Rumsfeld Memo on War Doubts Two days before he resigned as defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld submitted a classified memo to the White House that acknowledged that the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq was not working and called for a course correction. 1 Three car bombs exploded in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of central Baghdad, killing at least 51 people and wounding at least 86, many of whom were shopping at a crowded street market, Iraqi government officials said. 28 Germany to Ban Smoking Partly Germany, Europe's biggest tobacco market, announced that it would seek to ban smoking in restaurants, discos, schools and other public buildings, but not in pubs, bars or beer tents. The compromise would bring the country closer to its neighbors in curtailing public smoking. 8 Stock Market Lifts Chávez To understand why Hugo Chávez seems set for victory in the presidential election, consider the Caracas stock exchange. Its main index climbed to a record high this year, when it was one of the best performing markets in the world. 8 Castro Absent From Celebration On the final day of a weeklong belated birthday celebration for Fidel Castro, Cubans expected one last speech from their ailing leader. But Mr. Castro was a no-show at the parade that capped the festivities. 3 NATIONAL 30-42 Produce Farms Seek Subsidies In the face of tough new international competition, the fruit and vegetable growers of Florida and other states have joined forces for the first time, forming a lobby group to pressure politicians for federal subsidies. 1 Burial Insurance a Priority Historically, the burial insurance business has been marred by scams and racially discriminatory pricing. But many lower-income people see holding burial insurance as a point of pride, as well as security. 30 Pfizer to End Research on Drug Pfizer announced that it had discontinued research on its most important experimental drug, a treatment for heart disease. 38 Debate on Iraq Memorial Lafayette, Calif., has become the scene of a debate over a hillside memorial made up of some 450 small white crosses. 38 NEW YORK/REGION 45-50 Clinton Signals Intent to Run Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun a series of meetings with top New York Democratic officials to signal that she is likely to run for the presidency in 2008 and to ask for their support if she does, according to state Democratic officials. 45 Chess 50 Weather 51
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The Bad News? We're 7-9. The Good News? We're in First Place.
Date: 03 December 2006
By Liz Robbins
Liz Robbins
New Jersey Nets lead Atlantic Division, despite 7-9 record; photo (M)
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The Bad News? We’re 7-9. The Good News? We’re in First Place.
Date: 03 December 2006
By Liz Robbins
Liz Robbins
Perhaps one reason for the Atlantic Division's struggles is that its the youngest division in the N.B.A., with an average player age of 25.85.
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News Analysis: Will Bush Change on Iraq?
Date: 04 December 2006
By David E. Sanger
David Sanger
News analysis notes long-awaited report from bipartisan Iraq Study Group is expected to advise that White House announce plan for American forces to begin pulling back from Iraq whether Iraqis are ready or not, in spite of Pres Bush's declaration that American forces cannot leave until Iraqis demonstrate that they are capable of defending themselves; says Bush's recent statements have made some commission members wonder if he was signaling that some of their ideas would be dead on arrival (M)
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News Analysis: Will Bush Change on Iraq?
Date: 04 December 2006
By David E. Sanger
David Sanger
The future of U.S. policy lurks at the intersection of war strategy and the president’s personality.
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