Koppel: Not a Ratings Stunt.

I’m sure one could come up with a few reasons to criticize the Nightline show that will feature the reading of the names of the American soldiers killed in Iraq. But a ratings stunt? How could anyone who has even the most remote understanding of the American public’s television viewing habits and the history of Nightline possibly come up with that analysis?

The answer is simple and is featured in the post below this one.

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McCain blasts Sinclair’s decision to bar the show from its affiliates: “I supported the President’s decision to go to war in Iraq, and remain a strong supporter of that decision. But every American has a responsibility to understand fully the terrible costs of war and the extraordinary sacrifices it requires of those brave men and women who volunteer to defend the rest of us; lest we ever forget or grow insensitive to how grave a decision it is for our government to order Americans into combat. It is a solemn responsibility of elected officials to accept responsibility for our decision and its consequences, and, with those who disseminate the news, to ensure that Americans are fully informed of those consequences.”

When Michael Jackson showed up at court to enter a not guilty plea, it all began to make sense. The glove. The sparkled do-dads. All of it.

Why? It turns out that Jacko looks even weirder normal.

RSS readers ping a page (or a few pages) on a site at scheduled intervals. Even in these early days (at least in terms of mainstream adoption) of RSS readers, site owners can see the boost in traffic come from these readers – whether the user is actually noticing the update or not.

What happens when RSS reading is built into software like Outlook and all the portals follow Yahoo’s early lead and offer RSS headlines all over the place? Will RSS cause a major traffic jam on the web.

Scientists, critics and government officials are all ripping NBC’s upcoming miniseries call 10.5 that features a massive earthquake in Seattle.

I don’t enjoy these disaster picts, so maybe I’m biased. But the fact is that shows like this take too much of a financial risk. NBC spent millions on the series. If there is a quake of any significance anywhere in the next week, they’ve pretty much got to drop the show. It doesn’t make financial sense to take such a risk for entertainment that sucks.

Mary Kate and Ashley’s Graduation Gift.

You’d think that ABC’s planned reality show that features 5 couples who are trying to adopt a baby would be offensive enough that at least they wouldn’t have any direct competition. You’d be wrong.