Study: Sept. 11 most memorable TV moment

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack is by far the most memorable moment shared by television viewers during the past 50 years, a study released on Wednesday concluded.

The only thing that came close was President John F. Kennedy's assassination and its aftermath in 1963, but that was only for the people aged 55 and over who experienced those events as they happened instead of replayed as an historical artifact.

Sony Electronics and the Nielsen television research company collaborated on the survey. They ranked TV moments for their impact not just by asking people if they remembered watching them, but if they recalled where they watched it, who they were with and whether they talked to other people about what they had seen.

By that measure, the Sept. 11 tragedy was nearly twice as impactful as the second-ranked moment, which was the coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Minutes after the first airplane struck New York's World Trade Center on a late summer morning, television networks began covering the events continuously and stayed with them for days.

The other biggest TV events, in order, were the 1995 verdict in O.J. Simpson's murder trial, the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986 and the death of Osama bin Laden last year, the survey found.

Sony was interested in the study for clues on consumer interests and behaviors and found "that television is really the grandmother of all the social devices," said Brian Siegel, vice president of television business for the company.

Going into the study, Siegel said he had anticipated that entertainment events like the final episode of "M-A-S-H" (ranked No. 42), the Beatles' appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (No. 43) and the "Who shot J.R.?" episode of "Dallas" (No. 44) would rank higher. Instead, television coverage of news events made the biggest difference in viewers' lives.

The Super Bowl is annually the most-watched TV event, with this year's game between the N.Y. Giants and New England Patriots setting an all-time record with 111 million viewers. The memories don't seem to linger, however: the top-ranked Super Bowl Sunday event in Sony's study came in 2004 and had nothing to do with football. It was Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction (No. 26).

Men and women agreed on the three most impactful television events ? Sept. 11, Katrina and Simpson. After that, some of the interests diverged.

For example, women ranked the 1997 funeral of Princess Diana as the fourth most memorable event, while men put that at No. 23. Women ranked last year's death of Whitney Houston at No. 5, with men judging it No. 21.

Similarly, the 2003 bombing of Baghdad at the start of the Iraq War was seen as the No. 14 most impactful moment by men, and No. 37 among women. Men were also far more struck by boxer Mike Tyson biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear.

The passage of time has also diluted some moments once thought as unforgettable, simply because succeeding generations have no personal memory of them. Man's first moon landing in 1969 ranked No. 21.

Age also made a big difference in the survey. JFK's assassination was the second-most impactful TV event among people 55 and over, while for those between 18 and 34, it was the death of Osama bin Laden.

Young people also ranked Barack Obama's Election Night speech in 2008 at No. 3, while that didn't move older viewers quite as much (No. 24).

Simply because of their age, events like the JFK assassination, President Nixon's resignation and the moon landing didn't register at all among viewers 18 to 34. The oldest event to appear in their rankings was the 1980 shooting of John Lennon.

The study was based on an online questionnaire of 1,077 adults selected as a scientific sample from among Nielsen's panel of people measured for television ratings. It was conducted between Feb. 15-17 this year.

The study could be a good baseline for future looks at how television impacts viewers, said Paul Lindstrom, senior vice president for custom research at Nielsen.

"I'd like to see these done on a periodic basis going forward," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-sept-11-most-memorable-tv-moment-100249835.html

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'Social Network' team to produce 'Fifty Shades'

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The producers of "The Social Network" are producing the film adaption of the best-selling erotic trilogy "Fifty Shades of Grey."

Universal Pictures and Focus Features said in a joint statement Monday that Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti will reteam for the adaptation of the best-selling novels by E. L. James.

The multimillion-selling books tell the story of an unworldly college student engaging in an unusual romantic relationship with a wealthy young businessman.

They have been called "mommy porn" for their sexual content and large female following.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-07-09-Film-Fifty%20Shades/id-a9f938d8d70748d8b2da05caca2e00ce

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Weaver: 'Ask a mom' to get things accomplished

By Randee Dawn

She's fought aliens in the "Alien" saga and she nearly became one in "Avatar," but in her first TV series role, Sigourney Weaver is playing someone really foreign to her repertoire: A regular person. Who just so happens to be a former first lady, a onetime presidential candidate and current U.S. secretary of state.

"Usually I'm playing people who I have to say in a nice way are quite eccentric or they've been put on the periphery for some reason," she told TODAY's Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday, explaining her role on USA's "Political Animals." "This is the first character I think I've ever played that's so in the mainstream."

Weaver's known for playing strong women, and she said women simply are strong. "I've always felt if you really want to get anything done, you ask a mother to do it," she said. "That's the kind of energy I feel Washington (D.C.) needs."

As for the current strong lady she's playing -- Elaine, who is the matriarch of a political family that wants to reclaim its place in the White House -- Weaver says that yes, the character?was inspired by real life.

"Certainly, we are inspired by Mrs. (Hillary) Clinton, who is a remarkable woman ... but it's also inspired by these different families who have been in the White House who want to get back in. There's an idea that in spite of how brilliant and talented these people are, being in the White House, kind of you pay a price for that.... It is a tribute to politicians like Mrs. Clinton, but it's both sides."

"Political Animals" premieres Sunday, July 15 at 10 p.m. on USA.

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Obama seeks to shift election toward tax debate

President Barack Obama lays out his plan to extend tax cuts for the middle class, during an announcement from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama lays out his plan to extend tax cuts for the middle class, during an announcement from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - In this June 28, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks in Washington. When Romney broke fundraising records by bringing in more than $106 million last month, his campaign praised small-dollar donors it said made this possible. But it was actually a small and often wealthy number of donors who were responsible, giving an average of about $2,400 each, according to an Associated Press analysis of the figures. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

President Barack Obama greets event participants after announcing his plan to extend tax cuts for the middle class, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - In this June 19, 2012, file photo Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns in Holland, Mich. Romney privately raised millions of dollars from New York's elite on Sunday, July 8, 2012, as Democrats launched coordinated attacks against the likely Republican presidential contender, intensifying calls for him to explain offshore bank accounts and release several years of tax returns. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

President Barack Obama lays out his plan to extend tax cuts for the middle class, during an announcement from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Facing sagging jobs numbers, President Barack Obama sought to recast the November election as a fight over tax fairness on Monday, urging tax cut extensions for all families earning less than $250,000 but denying them to households making more than that.

The president's pitch was aimed at painting Republican rival Mitt Romney as a protector of the rich at a time of economic unease, as Democrats intensify efforts to raise questions about the Romney's own wealth and offshore bank accounts.

Romney supports extending the federal tax cuts, first signed by George W. Bush, for all income earners.

Obama said if Congress passes a one-year extension for those making less than $250,000, voters can use the November election to decide the fate of the cuts for higher income earners.

"My opponent will fight to keep them in place. I will fight to end them," said Obama, flanked by a dozen people the White House said would benefit from the tax cut extension.

The president has long supported ending the Bush-era tax cuts for those making more than $250,000. The White House and the president's re-election team are reviving his arguments now as a way to suggest that the push by Romney and congressional Republicans for an across-the-board extension of the tax cuts could put America's middle class at risk.

"Let's not hold the vast majority of Americans and our economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy," Obama said at the White House.

The president's sudden focus on the tax fairness debate was also an attempt to change the election subject after yet another lackluster jobs report. New numbers released Friday showed the nation's unemployment rate stuck at 8.2 percent, giving Romney fresh grounds to attack Obama as unfit to steer the U.S. economy.

Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the president was responding to the bad economic news by calling for a "massive tax increase."

"It just proves again that the president doesn't have a clue how to get America working again and help the middle class," Saul said.

Obama said his proposal was aimed at staving off an end-of-the year stalemate with Congress. But it appeared to have the opposite effect.

Congressional Republicans immediately balked, saying it would be a mistake to raise taxes on anyone while the economy was still struggling to recover. The House GOP plans to make its own push this summer for a full extension of the tax cuts.

Obama said later Monday that he would veto such a bill if it landed on his desk.

Ahead of Obama's remarks on Monday, White House officials consulted with congressional Democrats to shore up support within the party. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of his party's Senate leadership, had both previously advocated extending the cuts to those who make up to $1 million annually, but on Monday they stood in solidarity with the president.

Obama angered many fellow Democrats in 2010 when he signed off on a full extension of the Bush tax cuts, in part to win concessions from Republicans on other legislation.

Extending the tax cuts only for households making below $250,000 would save the government about $800 billion over 10 years compared with extending them for everyone. The full cuts cost the government about $4.5 trillion over a decade.

Economists worry that across-the-board tax increases, along with automatic spending cuts also scheduled to take hold at year's end, could be a blow to the shaky U.S. economy.

About 2.5 million U.S. households had incomes of $250,000 annually or more, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. The median household income in 2010 was $49,445.

Romney, whose personal wealth could exceed $250 million, would be among the nation's richest presidents if elected, and the Obama campaign has sought to portray him as disconnected from middle class voters.

Democrats ramped up their calls over the weekend for Romney to release more of his tax returns, which would outline the investments he has lived off of for more than a decade.

"I think what's important if you're running for president is that the American people know who you are, what you've done and that you're an open book," Obama said Monday in an interview with New Hampshire television station WMUR. "And that's been true of every presidential candidate dating back to Mr. Romney's father."

Romney has so far refused to release more than two years of tax returns, breaking from a precedent set by his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, who released 12 years of returns when he sought the presidency a generation ago. An Associated Press report recently raised questions about a previously undisclosed Bermuda-based company included in Romney's portfolio until the day before he became Massachusetts governor.

Romney's campaign dismisses the Obama campaign's tactics as an attack on success. And Romney hasn't shown any indications of trying to deny his wealth. He spent Sunday in the Hamptons, the wealthy enclave on Long Island, holding three fundraisers at wealthy donors' homes as protesters stood outside. At the day's third event, at the Southampton estate of billionaire industrialist David Koch, donors were asked to give $50,000 per person or $75,000 per couple.

On Monday, Romney raised money in Aspen, Colo., the resort town where Michelle Obama has vacationed. And he spent the previous week jet skiing and boating on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, where he has a lakeside estate worth millions.

While hardly in Romney's league, Obama also is well-off and acknowledges it. At one point Monday, he said that "it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, folks like myself, to expire.

The president, too, was mingling with the wealthy on Monday. Hours after calling for increased taxes on higher income earners, he attended two campaign fundraisers in Washington that cost donors $40,000 per person.

The Romney campaign announced Monday that, in conjunction with the Republican National Committee, it raised $106 million in June. The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised $71 million.

____

Kasie Hunt reported from Aspen, Colo. Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed from Washington.

____

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Kasie Hunt at http://twitter.com/kasie .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-07-09-Presidential%20Campaign/id-93f7d1ac23c84f50921f4e59a2a0c316

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Rome this winter will lose all nonstop air service operated by U.S. carriers from the New York area,

July 09, 2012 - 02:10 PM ET

Rome this winter will lose all nonstop air service operated by U.S. carriers from the New York area, as American, Delta and United cut seasonal service, according to a research note from Deutsche Bank airline analyst Michael Linenberg. Italian flag carrier Alitalia, which codeshares with SkyTeam partner Delta, will maintain nonstop service between the two cities, but "even the Italian airline's capacity for the last three months of 2012 is expected to be down 9 percent from a year ago," according to Linenberg. He added that "American, Delta and United have all indicated that their metal will be serving the market by spring 2013."

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Algerian police auxiliaries march for pay rises

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/algerian-police-auxiliaries-march-pay-rises-194446881.html

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Medicaid official rules against Ind. abortion law

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Indiana's decision to deny Planned Parenthood Medicaid funds because it performs abortions denies women the freedom to choose their health care providers, a federal hearing officer said.

The state had asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Chicago to reconsider its June 2011 ruling that found changes in Indiana's Medicaid plan unacceptable. But a hearing officer recommended in documents released Friday that a CMS administrator uphold the agency's initial decision.

The changes to Indiana's plan resulted from a 2011 law that would have made the state the first to deny the organization Medicaid funds for general health services, including cancer screenings. The law has been on hold while the dispute works its way through the courts.

The Indiana attorney general's office, which already is appealing a federal judge's order blocking the law, said it may also contest the panel's recommendation. The state had argued that the dispute should be decided administratively by the CMS, not in court.

"Because this is a recommendation, the Attorney General's Office has a chance to file an exception to it before the CMS administrator makes a final decision," the agency said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana said it was gratified by the decision.

"Through its appeal, the State was continuing its attack on women's rights and attempting to restrict access to basic, lifesaving services such as Pap tests, breast exams, STD testing and treatment, and birth control," Betty Cockrum, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said in a statement.

While Planned Parenthood officials had feared they might have to close some of the organization's 28 clinics in Indiana or suspend some services because of a loss of Medicaid funds, that has not happened so far. Cockrum has said about 9,300 women rely on Planned Parenthood for their health care.

Indiana had argued that Medicaid funds intended to help groups like Planned Parenthood provide general health care would indirectly subsidize abortions. The Hyde Amendment, a 1976 provision named after the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., bans all federal funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk.

The state also said Planned Parenthood could continue to receive Medicaid funding if it established separate fiscal entities for abortion and other health care. But CMS said such an option was premature.

Hearing officer Benjamin Cohen wrote that the Indiana law violated the federal requirement that individuals must have the freedom to obtain care from any qualified provider. Restricting that choice just because a care provider also offers non-covered care isn't allowed, he wrote.

Indiana asked the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago last August to lift U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt's June 24, 2011, preliminary injunction blocking parts of the abortion law. The court has not yet ruled.

Another federal appeals court ruled in May that Texas cannot ban Planned Parenthood from receiving state funds, at least until a lower court has a chance to hear formal arguments. A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that there's sufficient evidence the state's law preventing Planned Parenthood from participating in the Women's Health Program is unconstitutional.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-07-08-Planned%20Parenthood-Indiana/id-5ae63ddafd39490692e6297ee3f1bd70

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