Here we go again. The AP’s Mike Baker writes that John Edwards has pulled out of the FNC/CBC Institute debate. Edwards has made at least 30 appearances on FNC since 2000…

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday pulled out of a second debate co-hosted by Fox News Channel, saying the cable network has a conservative slant.

The Edwards campaign said it will not attend the Sept. 23 debate hosted by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, but officials added that Edwards is “looking forward” to a different debate hosted by the institute and CNN.

“We believe there’s just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they’re objective,” said Jonathan Prince, Edwards’ deputy campaign manager.

The AP’s David Bauder interviews Bill O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera the day after the big spat…

Rivera told the AP he has a particular sensitivity to the issue. His father, who came to New York from Puerto Rico in 1940, used to watch the news and pray that people who committed a crime weren’t Puerto Rican, he said.

“I think that illegal immigration is the gay marriage (issue) of this political season,” he said.

Rivera, who is a guest on “The O’Reilly Factor” once a week, said he doesn’t come on to be cowed or bullied by the host’s opinions.

O’Reilly called him after the taping to say, “that was lively, eh?” he said.

“We’re friends off camera,” he said. “On camera, the fact of the matter is that we disagree on so many things that it always makes for good television.”

FishbowlNY has Don Imus’ apology for the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team comments…

Want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team. It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry.

CNN announced that it will be airing a one hour Dr. Sanjay Gupta radio special called “Chasing Life”…

CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta sifts through hyperbole and facts as he details for CNN Radio listeners the latest therapies and regimens designed to slow down the aging process. For the hour-long “Chasing Life” program, Gupta and CNN Radio take a hard look at dietary supplements, human growth hormones, stem cell treatments and calorie-restriction diets.

The program, available to affiliates beginning Friday, April 6, serves as a companion piece to the CNN: Special Investigations Unit documentary, set to premiere on Saturday, April 14, at 8 p.m. (ET) on CNN/U.S. and to Gupta’s first book, Chasing Life, scheduled to be released by Warner Books on Monday, April 9.

CNN Radio’s “Chasing Life” will be produced by CNN Radio supervising producer Sherri Maksin.
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The Chicago Sun Times writes about The Chicago Tribune losing an injunction fight over the term Red Eye…

U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo said as of now, the show and the tabloid are different enough that consumers are unlikely to confuse the two. An expedited trial is to begin in August.

Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman hears echoes of an old Paula Zahn promotion during the American Morning conference call Jonathan Klein had a couple of days ago…

You could say that the promotion reduced Zahn, a serious newscaster to the core, to the unwanted role of journalist capable of providing a little cheesecake along with the — what do you call it? — news.

That was an embarrassment to CNN, and by extension to its image-sensitive parent company, Time Warner Inc. Naturally, you wouldn’t think that a CNN head could repeat history in such a way.

But CNN’s top news executive in the United States, Jonathan Klein, can be accused of coming pretty darned close — even though Klein reminded me that he wasn’t running CNN’s news operation when the “sexy” comment caused a fuss.

The occasion was a conference call with journalists after CNN announced that Soledad O’Brien and Miles O’Brien (no relation) were out as the anchors of “American Morning.” John Roberts, who had come over to CNN from CBS, would be replacing them.

This is what transpired on the call, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Web site: “As for Ms. Chetry, who joined CNN in February from Fox News Channel, ‘One look at her tells you why she deserves the spot,’ Mr. Klein said. ‘She’s a terrific anchor who lights up the screen.’”

Ugh.

Normally I don’t engage in this sort of mindless uninformed speculation (I prefer the mindless informed variety) but it’s 4 am, I’m sick, and this isn’t going to leave me alone until I write something. So here goes…

One of the least explored angles in the whole Cheatwood hiring news may turn out to be the most key; FNC’s stated desire to abandon the wheel format and how Cheatwood could facilitate that move. According to this leaked Bill Shine internal memo, FNC is already working on moving toward branded programming. Cheatwood’s big claim to fame at CNN was how he overhauled HLN prime with branded programming and how it has succeeded in boosting the channel in the ratings. Sounds like a perfect marriage to me; bring in a guy who brought HLN primetime alive just when your own network is looking to brand its daytime programming.

Slate’s Troy Patterson writes about FNC’s Red Eye…

If you make it back to the futon in time to catch the show’s opening, you’ll see a crudely animated bit featuring bobbleheadish renderings of Paris Hilton, Barry Bonds, and George W. Bush. Gutfeld—standing antsily and often attempting a mock-stentorian bellow—then goes charging through the events of the day. His go-to sources for material appear to be stray gossip from the usual sites, badly sourced items in the New York Post, and snippets of news radio that he’s hashed over with his town-car driver in some sincerity and with a comedy writer not at all. Gutfeld comes to TV from Dennis Publishing, where he presided over magazines pitched at illiterate breast men. He tries to play the boor here, with Sarah Silverman shock tactics and one eye on the gutter, but there’s a nerdish twist to his sense of humor and a good-natured twinkle in his eye. It’s all horribly watchable. A recent, ideal Red Eye lead story concerned a report that Brazil’s Gisele Bündchen might cut back on her modeling responsibilities in order to provide her current paramour, New England’s Tom Brady, with an heir. Gutfeld ran tape of Gisele strutting about in fancy underwear and discussed the implications of this news with his regular sidekicks, Rachel Marsden and Bill Schulz.