Geoffrey

He is their media reporter writing for their media newsletter. He thought he was being clever tying the bolder font with a bolder direction. Perhaps you disagree. It's not just "some Trump tape from 2021." It is audio of the former president of the United States, currently under federal indictment, admitting that a document he was so cavalierly showing off to a writer was classified and that he could no longer declassify it. It completely blows up each of his public defenses since last August. Yes, it is news, and MSNBC led with it last night at 9. And don't worry, CNN devoted much coverage to Russia as well. The fact that it's from 2021 does not make it any less newsworthy. Hearing the former president say this stuff, instead of just reading transcripts, is rather incredible, and gives new insight into his tone and the tone of those around him. Any news organization wishes they had obtained this.

Looks like the graphics change has been implemented. Keeping the new graphics but making some adjustments: Person's name and title is again displayed under the headline, which is bolder. Locators have been squared off, as has been the CNN bug (except for the top-left corner, not pictured here), but the curves remain elsewhere. The flipper is now written in all caps and is often nearly impossible to read (I'm sure this will be addressed quickly). So definitely not the "back to the old style" that Dylan Byers reported but more of a hybrid adjusting the new design.

CNN+ wasn't canceled due to it not working. They had invested $100 million and something like a year of preparation, only to announce its cancellation about three weeks into its existence. They shut it down because it did not align with Warner Bros Discovery's streaming plans. Sure, if more than a handful of people had signed up in the first three weeks, perhaps the calculation would have been different, but it was never even given a chance to succeed. Anyway, no change to the graphics this morning. Maybe it takes 2-3 weeks for them to load them back into the control rooms and we'll see the change after that.

That's pretty embarrassing. I wonder why the process will take 2-3 weeks, unless Byers means they're going to start working on reloading the graphics into the systems on Monday and it'll be 2-3 weeks before we see the change. And I was still waiting to see whatever this special breaking news version of the graphics would look like. (Was it just the red ticker?) Maybe they can keep the flipper vs. the ticker?

CBS 2 News made it clear that Legoland sponsored the segment. And with John appearing at least four times an hour, they got a lot of coverage. Legoland purchased the presence of a member of the CBS 2 News team during a CBS 2 News broadcast.

It may not be a big deal, but it is very different from a small logo on one of the weather slides. This sponsorship dictated programming during a news program.

I was flipping around to sample the cable news coverage of this big moment happening in Russia right now. The other cable networks are wall to wall on this. "News" Nation is airing Blue Bloods, of course. And when I turned them on for a second, they had a banner promoting anti-vax conspiracy theorist RFK, Jr. This is not a real news channel.

CBS 2 News has John Elliott doing his Saturday morning weather reports from inside Legoland. After at least some of the segments, the commercial break began with a 5-sec spot saying "This portion of CBS 2 News was sponsored by Legoland New York Resort." I know other stations often sell off portions of their "lifestyle" shows but it seems poor for a news broadcast to send its talent to spend a considerable chunk of its airtime promoting whoever pays them. What's an on-location weather report doing inside anyway?

There has been talk of a CBS/CNN merger for a long time. I'm not sure if she's been there every night but she's been anchoring CNN Primetime this week and in recent weeks. Wonder if this is just how it'll be or if they'll actually rebrand the show around her.

I was wondering if any channels would have a countdown, though it does seem to be questionable in taste. Additionally, using minutes and especially seconds makes it seem like they know the exact time. It's just estimates and could change based on factors. I noticed CNN occasionally had a studio graphic saying something like "16-17 hours", making it clear that it's not exact.

I agree with you on not definitely taking what he said at face value, but I have heard some instances recently where people who were about to start a job were suddenly told it was no longer happening. Someone I know was given a start date a few months in advance, only for all the incoming hires to be told their project was canceled due to economic reasons. I believe at least one of the big tech companies also let go a group of incoming hires a earlier this year amid all those tech layoffs. So it is possible and Disney has been undergoing cuts.

Open definitely seems busy! Not at all what I was expecting when I saw the lower-thirds.

Jim Rosenfield being considered is something I did not expect but he would be a great hire. I'm used to seeing him as an afternoon/evening anchor so it would be interesting to see him doing mornings. However, as this station just let a newly hired reporter go before he could even appear on air due to apparent budget issues, I'm not sure that they have the money available to hire someone with Jim's experience. (Unless they feel that this would be more of a necessary "power move" to fill in their anchor slots compared to a new reporter.) Rosenfield first came to New York joining CBS 2 as noon and 6:00 co-anchor. I remember the promos hyping his arrival and being disappointed that he seemed very stiff. Then he left for NBC 4, and eventually came back to CBS 2 and seemed much more comfortable. While we're thinking of former CBS 2 anchors, my mind also considered Don Dahler, who was an ABC News correspondent before essentially filling Jim's role at 2. I wonder if he is also under consideration at all. (Not to turn into too much speculation here.)

I like how the time and "Headlines" boxes very nearly line up with KPIX and CBS News Bay Area boxes. Seriously, why is CBS so sloppy with this look? I thought they delayed it to get it right.

How does CNN decide which font to use?

They're always good with breaking news.

I'm not sure they're necessarily hiring a bunch of people to replace the ones apparently just let go. I would imagine this is mostly reducing and consolidating staff to cut costs, having most daily graphics come from a central hub.

Anderson Cooper in NY and Kaitlan Collins in DC anchored the 8-10 p.m. hours. Then Erin Burnett and Dana Bash took over, presumably until at least midnight.

CNN's ticker turns red.

It was not very good. Not sure what happened to it, and if this is the same space. (It appears to be using some of the same elements.)

This perfectly sums up Licht at CNN: He should have listened to Colbert and kept the great job he had at The Late Show.

AC360 recently started opening the show teasing some of the stories coming up in the broadcast. (It used to start by going right into the top story.) Notably, they are using music (I think the old AC360 theme?), which I don't believe this show has used in many, many years.

If not for The Atlantic piece, I wonder if Licht still would have been fired or have been allowed to continue flailing. There were clear problems but that piece really exposed it to the general public. Zaslav is still in charge so will anything really change? He still wants to "appeal to Republicans" (a.k.a. bothsides reality).

Edit: Sorry, didn't realize there was already a thread in the Studio section... Looks like CBS 2 CBS News New York is on a temporary set.

That is terrible.