CNN apparently wanted Lou Dobbs out so badly that it gave him an $8 million severance package to leave. Dobbs had a year and a half to go on his $12 million contract and shocked viewers last Wednesday by announcing he was quitting. CNN boss Jonathan Klein and Dobbs had been publicly feuding over the kind of reporting Dobbs was doing on his show -- especially stories about illegal immigration and his focus on the anti-Obama movement that contends the president is not an American citizen. "I tried to accommodate them as best I could, but I've said for …

Top Rupert Murdoch adviser Gary Ginsberg is leaving News Corp. after more than a decade. Ginsberg is the second senior executive to leave News Corp in recent months, following COO Peter Chernin. A former lawyer in the Clinton White House, Ginsberg, was hired in 1999. His duties started with public relations and expanded to include investor relations, marketing and corporate social responsibility. He was a key connection between Murdoch and Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as other Democratic politicians. Teri Everett, who spends plenty of time dealing with the horde of reporters who cover News Corp's …

Companies such as Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Kraft Foods are increasingly turning to technologies that add interactive capabilities -- games, coupons and informational videos -- to their TV pitches. The interactive features are available from cable and satellite services as well as from TiVo and other tech companies. "We are very bullish on interactive ads. It's the digital online experience on your big-screen TV," says Rob Master, Unilever's U.S. media director. Unilever -- maker of brands such as Dove, Lipton and Vaseline -- has done more than 40 interactive ad campaigns and says all of its brands …

When Ford decided to promote its breast-cancer awareness program among hip high-schoolers, it arranged a tie-in with "90210," a CW series. In the past, the Ford program, called Warriors in Pink, has been primarily aimed at middle-aged women. In contrast, the CW tie-in "speaks to how [younger] people who haven't necessarily had the disease, but have been affected by it, can make a difference," says Alison Tarrant, senior VP at the CW network. It's the latest sign that more mainstream TV outlets are looking to hook their programming to a particular cause or theme. At NBC Universal, executives have …

CBS News is planning an ambitious turn-of-decade look at America's position in the world that's also designed as an opening competitive shot at Diane Sawyer. Called "CBS Reports: Where America Stands," the series will look at health care, the military, the economy, crime and other issues. Coverage will encompass past, current and future views of each issue. The "CBS Evening News" will be the centerpiece for the reports. "The Early Show," "Face the Nation" and the network's radio and online outlets will also show all or parts of the series. The special reports are designed to begin …

With fewer than 90 days to go before the Olympic torch arrives at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, NBC Universal still has a solid chunk of inventory left to sell, say insiders. NBCU must move between 30-35% of its 2010 Winter Games avails if it's to be wrapped by the time the games begin, per media agency estimates. In late November 2006, the network was about 85% sold out for the Torino Games, well on its way to setting a record haul of $930 million. That same year saw the U.S. economy grow 2.7%. "NBC will be on a …

Using new social-media tools, such as Twitter, Myspace and Facebook, TV producers are trying to build up their old-media offerings and beef up their audiences for advertisers. John Moore, director of media services at Mullen, envisions almost all TV programming having a built-in social component over the next decade. Because young consumers "don't want an isolated TV experience," TV networks need to connect their content to social media sites and widgets, he says. Companies that produce TV shows are trying to monitor when fans talk about the programs, then harness that chatter as another tool for sponsors. Getting the …

Fox Television Studios was formed to develop new, less expensive approaches to making and financing network-level shows for cable TV. Now the studio, producer of hit dramas "Burn Notice" and "White Collar" for USA Network, is evolving into what could become the new model for network TV production. At Fox Television Studios actors and writers are paid less, 11-day production schedules have been crammed into seven days, and costly digital effects are often replaced by old-fashioned stunts. Its strategy is to co-produce shows with international partners willing to commit to a series right from the start -- bypassing the expensive …

One new role of daily newspapers may be as a distribution vehicle for other media. Case in point: Gannett distributed about 1 million copies of an Oscar-winning documentary through its newspapers on Sunday under a partnership with The Smile Train, an organization that helps poor children in developing countries. The newspapers included free DVD copies of Smile Train's documentary, "Smile Pinki." Its subject is a young girl in India whose life is transformed when she receives free surgery to correct a cleft lip. "We chose Gannett because of the breadth and depth of its reach," says Brian Mullaney, Smile …

This Christmas shopping season, major TV manufacturers will launch the first marketing push for a new generation of sets that easily integrate Web content with the traditional TV. Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic and others hope to revolutionize television by smoothly connecting TV and the Web without a set-top box. The campaign could be risky. Consumers may balk if TV sets become too computerlike and complicated. Manufacturers are in a race with cable companies and gadget providers -- including makers of DVRs, Blu-ray players and game machines -- who offer alternative ways to blend the Internet with TV. But …