• by John Gaffney , March 18, 2003

I Guess We Can All Get Along: Look at the partnerships coming out of the preparation for war in the Middle East and you might get a glimpse of media consolidation future. One report says CNN, The New York Times and The Boston Globe will share resources and even reporters. The Globe and The Times already work together. Throw in The International Herald Tribune (also a Times property) and you have a very formidable operation. An operation you may want to continue through the hostilities and into the next few years. Can you see a Christiane Amanpour byline next to Thomas Friedman’s? That’s like facing Roger Clemens and Mariano Rivera in the same game. Unhittable. And if TimeWarner keeps treating CNN like its on the trading block, you just might see it someday, especially if the FCC (remember them) passes its relaxation of media ownership rules.

Broadband Instinct: Last week in this missive I predicted BBDO would waste no time in using celebrities and humor to rebrand and re-energize AOL’s broadband service. I was right, but so what? It wasn’t a very fragile limb to go out on. Sharon Stone will bring the new AOL to the Academy Awards Sunday, provided we’re all still here and we all still have the show to watch. Very shrewd move. Think about it. They could have gone with Kim Catrall.

Parting Shot I: I tooted my horn about BBDO cuz MediaPost wuz robbed in the Forbes.com “Best of the Media Blogs” article. See you next time, I guess.

Parting Shot II: Remember we were all calling Anna Nicole a “train wreck with breasts” not too long ago. I saw a bit of Ozzy Sunday night. He’s a train wreck with a great wife.