TVSquad

Pew Research Center's biannual survey on how Americans get their news revealed significant shifts underway from print to new media, and even from television to the internet. But it looks like that idiot box remains our number one source for just what's going on in the world around us. The article shows the demographics to be pretty much where you'd expect them to be as far as who goes where for their news. The younger, more affluent and/or more educated you are the more likely you are to go online for your news. The older, poorer and less educated you are the more likely you are to rely on the TV.

I live in a pretty small town that's chock full of poor, uneducated people and I can assure you that most of those citizens still think of computers as that fancy technology they use in them colleges and whatnot. And the Internets, well that's where you go for sin! But the young people, who have grown up with computers and the web are more savvy than their parents and if they can afford a computer, then they're online. Most are playing World of Warcraft, but they're still on there.

If you're a regular watcher of The Oprah Winfrey Show, you -- like me -- will recall the powerful reports created by Lisa Ling. The journalist attacks interesting stories and is intrepid and dogged in her reporting. She's found a new place to do her work. Lisa Ling is joining Nightline.

"I have wanted to work with Lisa for a long time," said James Goldston, ABC News and Nightlines' executive producer. "She is a terrific journalist with a very distinctive style that fits really well with the Nightline sensibility."

Lisa will continue with her Oprah appearances. She will also host National Geographic Ultimate Explorer.

Lisa's initial report for Nightline debuts tonight. It's a look at the growth of luxury retirement communities. If you're thinking Del Boca Vista, the Seinfeld show condominium where Jerry's parents lived, so did I.

If you tuned in to Nightline last night, you saw a report from the Congo about the political and humanitarian crisis there. But, the interesting part about it was who was reporting the story: Ben Affleck.

According to Reuters, Affleck has made three trips out to the Congo, and he contacted ABC News to see if they wanted to send a camera crew along with him. He also wrote an essay about his trips for the late-night news program's website. It's a refreshing view from Ben, whose trips to the war-torn country have mostly been under wraps.

"I view this as a long and ongoing learning experience to educate myself before making any attempt to advocate or 'speak out,'" Affleck writes. He also says that "it makes sense to be skeptical about celebrity activism. There is always the suspicion that involvement with a cause may be doing more good for the spokesman than he or she is doing for the cause."

ABC News is reaching out to younger viewers by starting on-campus bureaus at five of the nation's colleges. Set to open this fall, the bureaus will give journalism students the chance to produce broadcast and digital content for several ABC News shows and to report on local news stories. In addition to training and mentoring opportunities, core members of the team will receive annual stipends.

The first ABC News On Campus bureaus will be located at Syracuse University, Arizona State University, University of Florida, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of Texas at Austin. Each bureau will consist of mainly upper-class undergrads and graduate students, but all students are encouraged to submit their own ideas and suggestions for content.

They most prestigious award for excellence in broadcasting -- next to the Emmys -- were announced today. The 67th Annual Peabody Awards honored Mad Men, 30 Rock, Dexter, Project Runway, The Colbert Report -- all favorites here at TV Squad -- among others. To the Peabody Award voters, I say, "Good job."

The winners, chosen by the Peabody board -- which is part of the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication -- will receive the awards on June 16 at a luncheon at New York's Waldorf Astoria. NBC News anchorman Brian Williams will be the emcee.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• John McWethy: He was a veteran journalist who was the chief national security and Pentagon reporter for ABC News from 1979 to 2004. He reported on everything from foreign affairs, the military, and the Oklahoma bombing to 9/11. He died while skiing in Keystone, CO. He was 60. ABC News President David Westin released this statement.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Don't miss your chance to own The Tonight Show's old furniture.
  
• George Takei just had an asteroid named after him.
  
• ABC News has a new, money-saving plan for bringing us news from far away places.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

I feel sorry for celebrities who have to sit in a chair and answer inane questions from journalists (like me). They answer the same question 400 times and probably aren't even sure who they're talking to most of the time because it's just one interviewer after another. And when you get someone who doesn't even know what they're doing...

Case in point: this reporter from ABC News Now, who has the born-to-work-on-an-entertainment-show name of Merry Miller. She's interviewing Holly Hunter about her new TNT show Saving Grace, and I have to agree with Best Week Ever when they say that it's like a teenager got into the press junket. You'll rarely see someone as nervous and ill-prepared, and thanks to the web you can watch it over and over and over again! My favorite part is when she tells viewers at the end to go to NBCnews.com. Video after the jump (original video on ABC is here, edited for less awkwardness.)

Two ABC News journalists were ambushed and killed in Iraq as they were headed home from the ABC News Baghdad bureau yesterday, ABC announced.

Thirty-three-year-old cameraman Alaa Uldeen Aziz, and 26-year-old soundman Saif Laith Yousuf were in their car when they were "reportedly ambushed and they were killed by unknown assailants" after being "stopped by two cars full of gunmen," ABC's web site reported. The network's Baghdad correspondent, Terry McCarthy said, "Today we've lost two family members, and it really hurts."

One hundred and four journalists have been killed while covering the Iraq War, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Notably, one of ABC's anchors, Bob Woodruff, sustained serious injuries while covering Iraq in January 2006.

I'm not exactly sure what they mean by "powerful" whenever these lists come out. Does it mean influence? Does it mean the most-watched? Probably a mish-mash of both, since the list includes anchors and network executives. Here's the list, according to TV Week. Last year's rank is in parentheses.

1. Roger Ailes - Chairman and CEO of FOX News (1)

ABC News is currently shooting a behind-the-scenes documentary series with the working title of NASCAR in Primetime. The run of four to six episodes may air this summer and fall, though nothing is certain just yet.

Despite whether you're a NASCAR fan or someone who doesn't quite understand the allure of watching advertisements going in circles for hours, NASCAR is huge right now. I've never been a sports fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a younger brother who used to race a stock car, and both he and my father are NASCAR fans. The attraction, I believe, is having a favorite driver (or drivers) and watching to see how they perform in the race. That makes it much more interesting than just passively watching men you don't know drive really fast. Also, I've been to stock car races, and trust me, it's much more exciting when you're seeing it firsthand.

ABC News hopes to close the gap between NASCAR fans and those who couldn't care less by focusing not only on the racing aspects, but also on drivers whose personal stories stretch beyond the sport itself.

Like everyone else in the media universe, I was unfairly harsh to Katie Couric and the new CBS Evening News. At first, I said it was OK (based on a whopping one episode), and then after two weeks I gave the show a thumbs down. But I've been thinking about something lately.

What's the rush?

Anyone see Nightline last night? It was basically a commercial for Lost.

I know that the show has sorta steered away from the typical hard news that Ted Koppel used to do in almost every single episode, but this was rather odd. They were talking about the Lost phenomenon as if it was brand new and some cultural force they had to talk about. But it wasn't even that serious, it was really just a fluff piece on the show, the theories, and the web world it has spawned. An informerical for another show on the ABC network (and conveniently timed for a day before tonight's episode airs).

Not that it wasn't interesting to Lost fans. The three producers they had talking about the show (J.J. Abrams, Carleton Cuse, and Damon Lindelof) had some cool tidbits, but I don't think that at this point they're going to add any new fans. And I thought it was odd that an ABC news show would take an entire half hour to talk about their own sci-fi drama.

Last year, shortly before being diagnosed with lung cancer, Peter Jennings was part of a documentary being taped for ABC News called Out of Control: AIDS in Black America. Jennings passed away in the midst of the documentary filming, and despite him appearing on screen over a year after his death possibly being disconcerting to some viewers, the network has decided to keep his segment intact. Jennings, who is not anchoring the program, will be seen interviewing a group of black men with HIV. Jennings became interested when a producer informed him of the current AIDS crisis in the black community. I can't imagine anyone would have issues with this, but who knows? It seems the makers of the documentary felt Jennings' contribution was vital to the story, and that seems like reason enough to keep his segment in. What do you guys think? The episode airs next Thursday at 10 pm.

I'll admit that I haven't watched Nightline since Ted Koppel left. And I also have to admit that I didn't really watch it that much when Ted Koppel was still there either. I'm a Letterman/Charlie Rose guy.

Anyway, Brian Lowry over at Variety has been watching it, and he thinks that the show has gotten much worse, and it's really a shadow of its former self:

"Divided into a trio of stories as opposed to Koppel's single-topic approach, the new Nightline betrays the demographic tyranny that has beset the news business in general - pressured to provide lighter, more culture-oriented coverage that feels particularly incongruous given the program's prestigious history."