NEWS
January 18, 2012 | By Matea Gold
President Obama's reelection campaign is launching a major television advertising campaign this week, according to a person familiar with the details, effectively kicking off the general election even before Republicans have settled on a nominee. The spots will begin airing on national cable channels and broadcast television in six key states on Thursday and Friday. It is unusual for an incumbent to begin airing commercials so early in the process. In 2004, President George W. Bush's campaign started running television ads in March.
NEWS
October 6, 2011 | By Kim Geiger
Candidates, party committees and outside groups combined could spend as much as $3.2 billion on television advertising in the 2012 election. That estimate comes from Ken Goldstein, president of Campaign Media Analysis Group, a firm that tracks and analyzes political advertising. To put those numbers in perspective, about $2.1 billion was spent on television advertising in 2008, up 30% from the previous presidential cycle in 2004. The 2010 midterm saw $2.4 billion in TV ad spending, up 30% from 2006.
BUSINESS
April 16, 2011 | By Meg James, Los Angeles Times
CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves once again pulled down one of the richest paychecks in corporate America — and the second-largest for the head of a media company — with a compensation package totaling $57.7 million in 2010. The 61-year-old broadcasting chief was paid $3.5 million in base salary, a $27.5-million bonus and nearly $23 million in stock and option awards, according to a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also contributed nearly $900,000 to Moonves' pension fund and other compensation, including $2.5 million in reimbursement for taxes paid in New York.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 1, 2011 | By Seema Mehta and Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times
Meg Whitman vastly outspent Jerry Brown on virtually every facet of the 2010 contest for governor. From focus groups and consultants to private planes and lavish fundraisers, Whitman campaigned like the billionaire she is, spending $177 million to Brown's $36 million. But in one key area ? television advertising ? the Democrat nearly kept pace with Whitman during the final sprint of the campaign, allowing him to make his case to voters before they cast ballots, according to financial disclosure reports filed Monday.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 12, 2010 | By Cathleen Decker, Los Angeles Times
The potential for to-the-bastions drama in last week's primary election was hard to miss: A population supposedly enraged at government had the chance to register its vengeance at the ballot box. Republican candidates pressed the notion, vowing to take the country back were they fortunate enough to win the party's nominations after nasty primary contests. With Democrats, too, dismayed at the state's state of affairs, the prospects for a public revolt seemed enticing. Reality, as usual, fell far short.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
March 5, 2010 | By Michael Rothfeld
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who often speaks of his love for California, has promoted the state with his wife Maria Shriver in television commercials over the last five years. And as they invited viewers to visit, California's first couple got paid. Schwarzenegger and Shriver have received more than $235,000 since 2005 for appearing in commercials for the California Travel and Tourism Commission. The governor's aides said Schwarzenegger and his wife did not know about the income until The Times inquired about it this week, and they mailed the tourism commission a check to repay it on Thursday.