Ok after going round and round the past 24 hours both on Olbermannwatch and via email we’re both punched out. The air was cleared to a great extent but not too much was resolved. We understand each other but don’t necessarily agree with each other regarding yesterday’s events. It was mostly a bunch of mistakes and misunderstandings on both sides and some posturing on both sides as happens in blog spats.

However I did make an error yesterday. I demanded that Cox produce proof of his charge and he had already done so at the bottom of his post. I just plain missed it. So for that I apologize to Mr. Cox.

That said, I have to point out that the original charge Cox made was thus…

Now, if Spud will get down off his high horse for just a moment perhaps he will reconcile his policy with his numerous posts regarding unsubstantiated, unproven allegations made by Andrea Mackris with regard to Bill O’Reilly

I considered and still consider this to mean that I specifically wrote about Mackris and that’s what I challenged Cox over. Otherwise why use the words “his numerous posts”? What Cox posted however was a set of links to either articles I posted that mentioned Mackris or the suit or terminology that came out from the suit or comments by users who mentioned Mackris or the suit or terminology that came out from the suit. Clearly this was what Cox meant but it’s not what Cox wrote. If Cox had written that comments that had Mackris mentioned were posted or that I had posted articles which somewhere in the article mentioned Mackris I would have probably agreed with him as it certainly seemed plausible. But, like I said, he didn’t charge that.

It’s not that big a deal really. But it did prove an enlightening experience for me at least as I saw more to Mr. Cox than I had before. So I guess I can take that away as a positive aspect of this otherwise regrettable experience.

I’m still working on what the policy for comments will be. Some new information was brought to my attention tonight which forces me to re-appraise the current policy. As soon as I get it sorted out I’ll post something.

July 12
P2+ Total Day
FNC - 941,000 viewers
CNN - 505,000 viewers
MSNBC - 244,000 viewers
HLN - 189,000 viewers
CNBC - 164,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC - 1,847,000 viewers
CNN - 954,000 viewers
MSNBC - 371,000 viewers
HLN - 315,000 viewers
CNBC - 167,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC - 266,000 viewers
CNN - 164,000 viewers
MSNBC - 98,000 viewers
HLN - 79,000 viewers
CNBC - 74,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC - 465,000 viewers
CNN - 219,000 viewers
MSNBC - 154,000 viewers
HLN - 107,000 viewers
CNBC -105,000 viewers
(more…)

Tuesday Keith Olbermann talked about ratings increases for Countdown and ratings losses for O’Reilly. That may or may not be true, depending on which sets of numbers you parse and how you parse them. What is clear though is there is still a mighty big gap between the two programs ratings even after a week of heavy publicity…

(Demo numbers in parentheses)

Monday, July 10
O’Reilly 2,244,000 (454,000)
Olbermann 341,000 (155,000)

Tuesday, July 11
O’Reilly 2,401,000 (504,000)
Olbermann 399,000 (162,000)

Wednesday, July 12
O’Reilly 2,328,000 (506,000)
Olberman 441,000 (194,000)

Alan Colmes will interview with Hillary Clinton tonight – the interview will air on his radio show, The Alan Colmes Show, on Fox News Radio. The interview will touch on a bunch of topics including Iraq, Homeland Security and her 2008 plans.

FTVLive just broke that MSNBC Chief Meteorologist Sean McLaughlin will be leaving MSNBC to join KPHO in Phoenix as a news anchor.

Johnny Dollar has the video of FNC’s David Lee Miller coming under fire in the Gaza strip. I haven’t been able to watch it because it keeps crashing Internet Explorer. Your mileage my vary…

TVNewser has a partial transcript from a CNBC discussion on the Aquaman story where they say they tried to shoot down the Aquaman story but nobody would listen…

“It was on the radio. It was in Variety. It was everywhere. And now no one will change it. We called the New York Post six times. It’s out there. I’m Ron Burgundy.”

Ron Burgundy? Hmmm…

I don’t see that much a similarity…

Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times writes that Don Lemon has signed with CNN as an anchor/reporter…(viu FTVLive)

It’s over and out for Don Lemon after three years as a news anchor at WMAQ-Channel 5. He has resigned from the NBC-owned station, effective Aug. 25, to join Atlanta-based CNN as an anchor and reporter.

UPDATE: CNN issued a release on Lemon’s hire…

Don Lemon, a Chicago-based anchor and veteran NBC journalist, will join CNN as a news anchor, it was announced today by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. Lemon will be based in the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta.

“Don won over the Chicago audience with his intelligent, confident style on air,” Klein said. “But Don’s initiative impressed me most. Here’s a true-blue journalist who left the comforts of a Chicago news studio with his own camera in hand, flew to Africa and came back with a stunning series about the AIDS epidemic there. That showed he has CNN DNA.”
(more…)

Page Six has FNC shooting down In Touch’s story that Star Jones was possibly coming to the network…

THE Fox News Channel has no interest in hiring Star Jones, recently booted from ABC’s “The View,” and network executives are ticked off that In Touch magazine reported they were giving Jones a job. “This is what happens when a low-rent publication like In Touch tries to break news,” scoffed a Fox News flack. “It’s no wonder their magazine is an industry joke.”

Catherine Herridge’s son Peter is being released from the hospital in Pittsburgh today. He will remain in Pittsburgh for a few weeks before returning to Washington DC with his Mom, Dad, and brother Jamie.