CNN’s The Situation Room got exclusive access to former FEMA Director Michael Brown’s interview from the upcoming Documentary “New Orleans Story”…

“The Situation Room” was granted exclusive access to air an interview with Fmr. FEMA Director Michael Brown’s from the documentary “New Orleans Story” by Stephen Rue and Gabriel Dayan. The transcript of this interview and an interview with Stephen Rue, the documentary’s executive producer is below.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to show you now an exclusive interview with the former FEMA Director Michael Brown. In somber and searing words, he spoke with a filmmaker about the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. That filmmaker is sharing the interview exclusively with CNN.

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The New Republic’s Peter Beinart writes about the news, or lack thereof, in reporting the big news of Ibrahim Al Jaafari against all odds selection as Iraqi Prime Minister again and its significance (sub. req.). Beinart is a Liberal as is The New Republic but ignore all the ideological spin. Instead concentrate on Beinart’s bullseye of an assessment on cable news’ blinders to in depth discussion of world news… (via Romenesko)

Jaafari’s selection sparked a lively debate on U.S. talk shows. Hosts asked their guests how it affected their views on troop withdrawal. Regional experts tried to explain the murky political dynamic within the Shia Islamist coalition. Pundits raised alarms about Sadr’s new power. Talking heads speculated about how the Kurds and Sunnis would respond.

Actually, none of this happened. In reality, Jaafari’s selection sparked little discussion in the broadcast media. It made the front page of Monday’s New York Times and Washington Post, but, in the mysterious alchemy that converts print news into network news, the Jaafari story almost disappeared. According to transcripts, it received less than a paragraph of text on ABC’s “World News Tonight Sunday” and “Fox News Sunday.” And those were the responsible outlets. CBS’s and NBC’s Sunday evening broadcasts didn’t mention Jaafari’s selection at all.

Americans deserve better. The argument about how fast and under what conditions to pull U.S. troops from Iraq has quieted for the moment, but it will return with a vengeance in the run-up to the 2006 elections. It’s a highly partisan, ideologically freighted debate–but, as much as possible, it should be dictated by events on the ground in Iraq. The Bush administration obviously cannot be trusted to portray those events to the public in an honest way. That leaves the mass media, and the mass media is doing a lousy job.

Johnny Dollar has the audio of John Gibson responding on his radio program to the shots CNN’s Jack Cafferty took at FNC…

AdAge.com’s Lisa Sanders writes that Steve Dworin is planning on suing former partner Donnie Deutcsh for defamation…(sub. req.)

The suit looks certain to resurrect some of the bitterness, sorrow and drama surrounding the parting of the two one-time business partners. Mr. Dworin, who joined David Deutsch Associates in September 1991 and left in early 1994, is taking legal action over Mr. Deutsch’s commentary about him in Mr. Deutsch’s recent book, “Often Wrong, Never in Doubt.” He said the suit will be filed by the end of this month.

Former Bush White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer will appear on CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz this Sunday the network announced this morning…

Fleischer will discuss Vice President Dick Cheney’s handling of the Saturday, Feb. 11, hunting accident in which the vice president accidentally shot 78-year-old Harry Whittington. Fleischer will also talk about media reaction to the initial reporting of the event and his views on the White House press corps.

CNN announced this morning that former ITN correspondent Dan Rivers has been hired as CNN’s Bangkok correspondent…

Dan Rivers, a top reporter with ITN, has been appointed CNN’s Bangkok correspondent, it was announced today by Tony Maddox, senior vice president of newsgathering for CNN International. Based in Thailand, Rivers will report from the region for all of CNN Worldwide’s news services, including CNN International and CNN/U.S.

Currently based in London, Rivers has extensive international experience having covered the initial phases of the war in Iraq, the South Asia tsunami and the break-up of Yugoslavia. Prior to joining ITN, he was based in France as a reporter for EuroNews.
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SIRIUS Satellite Radio announced this morning that SIRIUS and Fox News reached a long term deal to carry the Fox News and Fox News Talk channels on its satellite service beginning March 14th. The news first leaked out when Mel Karmazin made an announcement during SIRIUS’ investment call this morning…

The previous agreement between FOX and SIRIUS expired at the end of 2005. FOX News, which has more viewers than all other cable news networks combined, now rejoins SIRIUS’ broad lineup of news and information at channel 131. FOX News Talk channel, which offers news, analysis, listener call-ins, and commentary from popular FOX News personalities such as Bill O’Reilly, Tony Snow, John Gibson and Alan Colmes, among others, will air on channel 145.

“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with FOX to bring back its news service to SIRIUS and to add what is a compelling talk channel,” said Scott Greenstein, SIRIUS President of Entertainment and Sports. “Our goal was to negotiate a new agreement that would be in the best interest of our subscribers and shareholders, and the new agreement fulfills that objective.”

Kevin Magee, Senior Vice President, FOX News Radio said, “We are pleased to be back on SIRIUS. The renewed agreement adds to our coast-to-coast footprint for both FOX News Radio, as well as our popular talk shows, and reinforces FOX as America’s fastest-growing radio news network.”