The Canadian Press writes about Rachel Marsden’s departure from Red Eye and has Marsden shooting down Page Six’s story on her…

In an e-mail exchange, Marsden denied the Post claim, and said it was standard procedure to be escorted from the building when given a pink slip at Fox News.

“They are always concerned that someone will take a laptop or a computer or something,” Marsden said in the e-mail. “Truth be told, the show started off being newsy and political, but the content had changed drastically from its inception.”

Marsden added: “I have nothing but the utmost respect for Fox News CEO Roger Ailes and the other show hosts at Fox News who have been very professional and supportive of me, and I prefer to leave `Red Eye’ with my own professionalism and integrity intact – and that includes staying clear of any mudslinging.”

The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Richard L. Eldredge blogs about an interview with Daryn Kagan regarding her book deal and other issues…

Former CNN anchor-turned-Web-site-entrepreneur Daryn Kagan has signed a publishing agreement with Meredith Books that includes a book to be released next spring. “What’s Possible! Creating Possibilities Beyond Life’s Five Biggest Obstacles” will be in keeping with darynkagan.com, her 6-month-old Web site that spotlights positive and hopeful news stories.

The content “will be almost all original,” Kagan said Wednesday, although the book will feature some of her favorite stories from the Web site. Otherwise, “It would be kind of like telling Jimmy Buffett he couldn’t put his favorites on a greatest-hits CD!”

As noted earlier, Greta Van Susteren will be interviewing Donald Trump tonight on On The Record on FNC at 10pm ET…

Former Senator Fred Thompson gave an exclusive television interview today with Carl Cameron, FNC’s Chief Political Correspondent . One of the things Thompson commented was the process of getting a possible campaign going…

It’s a daunting challenge, takes a while to get your team together and to get up and running but we are taking the steps necessary to put us there if we make that decision.

Public Eye’s Matthew Felling questions some Democratic Presidential candiates’ strategy vis a vis the CBC Institute/FNC Debate…

While this reporter has been critical more than once of Fox News Channel’s approach to broadcast journalism, this boycott effort seems counterproductive to the groups’ goals. If they believe Fox News Channel treats them unfairly, why not take the opportunity to have their party’s candidates appear on the network and say so, rather than allowing the purported campaign to continue unabated? When Bill Clinton went on Fox News Channel in 2006, his interview with Chris Wallace became a debate that ignited a public discussion of his administration’s efforts to fight terrorism – and rallied the left. Why not use the same page from the playbook?

America’s media landscape is already polarized enough. Partisans listen to their own radio shows, watch their own media outlets and generally seek out information that reinforces their political leanings. The Democratic presidential candidates are missing out on an opportunity to get their message out, confront the channel they view as a foe, and define themselves in their own words, rather than letting themselves be defined by what they see as Fox’s mischaracterizations.

Joe Scarborough tied American Morning in the Demo yesterday. But what happened with Hardball?

Cable News Ratings for May 30, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 751,000 viewers
CNN – 442,000 viewers
MSNBC – 252,000 viewers
CNBC – 197,000 viewers
HLN – 237,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,612,000 viewers
CNN – 725,000 viewers
MSNBC – 436,000 viewers
CNBC – 215,000 viewers
HLN – 341,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 229,000 viewers
CNN – 147,000 viewers
MSNBC – 108,000 viewers
CNBC – 56,000 viewers
HLN – 113,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 384,000 viewers
CNN – 183,000 viewers
MSNBC – 148,000 viewers
CNBC – 84,000 viewers
HLN – 112,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 815,000 viewers (305,000)
American Morning –360,000 viewers (155,000)
MSNBC Live (7-9 AM) – 291,000 viewers (155,000)
Robin & Co. –239,000 viewers (154,000)
(more…)

Following up on this post from earlier in the week, an insider calls the numbers “cherry-picked”…

Beware of the numbers that these blogs use to “prove” that Glenn is suffering. They are cherry-picked comparisons from strange time periods and not statistical or professional examples of ratings performance. Simply, they are wrong. Glenn is not suffering at 9; in fact, in May 2007 he is up double digits versus prior year (standard industry comparison) up 33% in P2+ and up 16% in P25-54. Glenn is doing well at 7p, he is up a whopping 37% in P2+ and while he is down in P25-54, it is a mere 11% and he is being compared to his show prior year so it isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise is his ability to grow his entire audience nearly 40%– that is a success and one that these blogs fail to address because it works against their argument.

Dan Abrams email to staff on MSNBC’s May ratings…

From: Abrams, Dan (NBC Universal, MSNBC)
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 3:16 PM
To: MSNBC Everyone
Subject: congrats…again

I just wanted to congratulate everyone on another fantastic month in the ratings! Yes we increased our total number of viewers by 14% for the Total Day while Fox and CNN were down, and sure we were up 51% in Weekday Prime (M-F 8p to 11p) while CNN and Fox dropped. But how about the fact that in the number that matters most to the business, “Sales Prime” (M-Su 7p to 2a), we almost achieved our goal of overtaking CNN! For the month of May (which on the Nielsen Calendar ended Sunday 5/27/07) we were just 9 thousand behind CNN in the key adult demographic (25-54). And if you include Monday (which is still the month of May on my calendar) the gap is narrowed even further to just 6 thousand! Your hard work continues to pay off. Thank you and let’s keep it going!

Dan

CNN announced that it will be airing a one hour special with Ali Velshi called “Going Green, Going Broke?” for CNN radio affiliates…

When Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, announced its plans to “go green” and reduce its impact on the environment, the effort reverberated through its 66,000 vendor companies, forcing many to find ways to reduce excess packaging and waste and improve recycling. But “going green” affects the bottomline, making it difficult for some to handle such commitments to the environment.

CNN senior business correspondent Ali Velshi, through interviews with Wal-Mart and other businesses, examines in “Going Green, Going Broke?” what jumping on the green bandwagon means for business. In addition, the program takes a look at how some consumers have managed to take themselves completely off the national power “grid.” This hour-long program, produced by CNN Radio supervising producer Sherri Maksin, will be available to affiliates on Thursday, May 31.
(more…)

CNBC announced that Mad Money with Jim Cramer will have a special “Father’s Day” show on Thursday, June 14 6pm ET…

In a Father’s Day special, CNBC’s Jim Cramer welcomes a live student audience of fathers and their kids. On the program, Cramer will use his expertise to educate investors of any generation whether they want to save for a first car or are getting ready for retirement CNBC’s Jim Cramer also welcomes his father, Ken Cramer, to the program as well as NBC News Washington bureau chief and moderator of “Meet the Press” Tim Russert and his son Luke.

CNN put out a release on the upcoming debates in New Hampshire as well as its week long coverage plans for said debates…

Mixing a moderated debate with the traditional New Hampshire-style town hall, CNN, along with Hearst Argyle’s WMUR-TV and the New Hampshire Union Leader, gather presidential hopefuls to respond to questions from both political journalists and registered New Hampshire voters for the Democratic and Republican presidential candidate debates on Sunday, June 3, and Tuesday, June 5, respectively.

For the first hour of both two-hour, commercial-free debates, candidates will address questions from CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, WMUR-TV political director Scott Spradling and New Hampshire Union Leader State House bureau chief Tom Fahey. In the second hour, candidates move from behind their lecterns to the front of the stage to field queries directly from an audience of more than 100 undecided registered voters.

The debate will be broadcast live throughout New Hampshire on WMUR-TV and nationally on CNN, CNN Radio, CNN International, CNN.com, WMUR.com and UnionLeader.com. In an unprecedented move, unlimited debate coverage will be made available without restrictions at the conclusion of each live debate.
(more…)

GretaWire reports that Adam Housley had some belongings stolen from him while down in Venezuela…

FNC’s Adam Housley (who incidentally played professional baseball… a pitcher) has had some bad luck while covering the riots in Venezuela. His personal camera equipment and iPod were stolen. I talked to him yesterday and he was a good sport about it, but was unhappy that on his long flight back to California he will have no music to listen to… of course at the rate things are going in Venezuela, I am not sure when he will be leaving.

Cable News Ratings for May 29, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 755,000 viewers
CNN – 442,000 viewers
MSNBC – 300,000 viewers
CNBC – 251,000 viewers
HLN – 224,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,557,000 viewers
CNN – 747,000 viewers
MSNBC – 525,000 viewers
CNBC – 405,000 viewers
HLN – 408,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 210,000 viewers
CNN – 164,000 viewers
MSNBC – 129,000 viewers
CNBC – 97,000 viewers
HLN – 98,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 334,000 viewers
CNN – 252,000 viewers
MSNBC – 176,000 viewers
CNBC – 172,000 viewers
HLN – 161,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 724,000 viewers (279,000)
American Morning –363,000 viewers (166,000)
MSNBC Live (7-8 AM) – 234,000 viewers (86,000)
Robin & Co. –195,000 viewers (80,000)
(more…)

Greta Van Susteren continues her cross country road trip for FNC’s On The Record. Yesterday, she was in Arizona speaking with Cindy McCain. Today, she heads to Trump Towers in New York to talk to Donald Trump…

Lou Dobbs responded to the New York Times article from yesterday…(via WHAC)

I’ve been — over the years, because of our reporting on controversial issues and my strongly held beliefs on those issues — attacked, and usually pretty vigorously, by both the left wing and the right wing of this nation’s media, both mainstream and otherwise, and of course the politicians that form the extremes of our political spectrum.

As a matter of fact, I’m regularly attacked by the right wing — the biggest business lobbyists in the country, “The Wall Street Journal” editorial page, the Bush administration — for my criticism of so-called free trade policies and outsourcing.

I’m regularly attacked by the left wing as well — the Southern Poverty Law Center, “The New York Times,” “The Nation,” MALDEF and MEChA — for my opposition to illegal immigration.

Today, “The New York Times” published a column that picks up where an advertisement — a paid advertisement in “The Times,” paid for by the Southern Poverty Law Center — left off two weeks ago.
(more…)

Well the CNBC contest started out with controversy and it appears it will end with controversy. Reuters has the story…

The cable network said on Wednesday that it is investigating whether entrants in its “CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge” contest engaged in illicit trading to boost their results.

“CNBC has been contacted by several contestants alleging unusual trading in violation of contest rules among some of the 20 finalists,” the cable news network said in a statement.

“Once these questions were raised, CNBC immediately launched a thorough investigation to determine who may have violated the rules,” it added.

The probe was looking at “unusual trading” and “potential irregularities,” CNBC said.

UPDATE: The New York Post’s Paul Tharp provides some additional background color…

But one red flag involved the fact that only 375,000 players joined the online contest, which ended May 25 - yet more than 1.5 million separate portfolios were created.
(more…)

Radar Online’s John Cook writes about something that occurred on an episode of Lou Dobbs Tonight…

But in the finished piece that aired, the Graham accusation looms large, and Overholser’s on-camera soundbite—”I think there are different ways to do journalism legitimately, but you have to … not pretend that you’re doing objectivity when you’re not”—comes on the heels of a conservative talking head from Accuracy in Media raising the accusations against the Post. “To the degree that this implies that I would have been chiding Graham,” Overholser says of the segment, “it is completely out of line.”

Sylvester declined to comment for the record. A CNN spokeswoman, taking time out of her busy day fending off href=”http://www.gawker.com/news/surprising-buried-news/lou-dobbs-loves-white-supremacists-hates-imaginary-lepers-264414.php” target=”_blank”>charges that Dobbs’s show is a forum for white supremacists, said Feldstein misinterpreted the producer’s comments. “It’s ridiculous to suggest that anyone was trying to coach anyone,” she said. “The fact is that they were trying to get someone neutral, and the booker was just explaining what Lou’s take is.”

Gawker nailed it. Rachel Marsden blogs that she won’t be appearing on Red Eye anymore…

A note to inquiring Red Eye viewers: I will no longer be appearing on the show, as I have been told that it is heading in a “different direction” from its inception, and I am the “first casualty”.

UPDATE: Page Six has the story…

SECURITY officers hastily escorted “Red Eye” contributor Rachel Marsden out of Fox News Channel’s Midtown headquarters yesterday for bizarre and erratic behavior. “She’s out of her [bleeping] mind. She was doing crazy stuff,” a spy told us.

The AP reports that Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd will not take part in the FNC debate. Richardson just gave FNC access last week…

Don’t read too much into HLN scratching in the prime time Demo. It was a holiday…

Cable News Ratings for May 28, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 614,000 viewers
CNN – 359,000 viewers
MSNBC – 347,000 viewers
CNBC – 190,000 viewers
HLN – 162,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,188,000 viewers
CNN – 451,000 viewers
MSNBC – 421,000 viewers
CNBC – 524,000 viewers
HLN – 196,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 162,000 viewers
CNN – 157,000 viewers
MSNBC – 180,000 viewers
CNBC – 76,000 viewers
HLN – 63,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 259,000 viewers
CNN – 150,000 viewers
MSNBC – 221,000 viewers
CNBC – 196,000 viewers
HLN – a scratch with 43,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 617,000 viewers (391,000)
American Morning –320,000 viewers (173,000)
MSNBC Live (8-9 AM) – 210,000 viewers (68,000)
Robin & Co. –143,000 viewers (62,000)
(more…)

Gawker is saying that it’s heard Rachel Marsden has been escorted out of the News Corp. building with a security escort…

CNBC announced this afternoon that it will be premiering its “American Greed” series in June…

CNBC’s “American Greed: Scams, Scoundrels and Scandals” will air on Thursday nights beginning June 21st and repeat on the following Sunday night. This is a six episode run.

The first two episodes will premiere on Thursday nights at 10pm/1am ET (pre-empting “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch”), while the remaining four episodes will air Thursday nights at 9pm/12am ET.

Episode 1 will also repeat on 7/3 at 9pm/12am ET. All Sunday repeats will air at 10pm/1am ET.

“American Greed: Scams, Scoundrels and Scandals” - People will do anything for money. This primetime series focuses on how greed changes people’s lives; from Ponzi schemes to art heists to a stunning case of stolen identity. The series is narrated by actor Stacy Keach.

The News & Observer has a blog entry that suggests that a recent O’Reilly Factor interview involving neighbors of the Edwards may have been somewhat misleading…

Introducing the segment, O’Reilly noted that a reporter spoke with four residents of a “trailer park where working-class Americans live” across the street from Edwards’ home.

“We couldn’t find anybody in the trailer park to say anything nice about John Edwards,” O’Reilly said.

But the people were interviewed at Big Valley Auto Repair, not a trailer park.

Though none of them are named, they were garage owner Danny Hulon; his live-in girlfriend, Trish O’Neal; property owner Monty Johnson; and a customer, Ronnie Lilly, according to Hulon.

FNC announced that Brian Jones had been named Senior Vice President of Operations for FOX Business Channel…

Brian Jones has been named Senior Vice President of Operations for the FOX Business Channel, announced Kevin Magee, Executive Vice President, FOX News. Reporting directly to Magee, Jones will manage the news gathering and be responsible for the staffing and operations on the production side, as well as the acquisition of financial data. FOX News Chairman & CEO Roger Ailes oversees the FOX Business Channel.

In making the announcement, Magee said, “Brian’s contribution to FOX News as well as his dedication and expertise will be a tremendous asset in starting up the business channel.”

Ailes added, “I have long relied on Brian’s experience, versatility and talent. He will be important to the launch of our business channel.”
(more…)

MSNBC put out a release noting its ratings for May…

MSNBC’s ratings for May, 2007 show the network continues its steady upward climb. According to Nielsen Media Research data, the network showed the strongest growth of any cable news network in total day and primetime. In total day, MSNBC was up 14% in total viewers over a year ago (257,000 v. 226,000), while both CNN and FOX were down, 3% (415,000 v. 427,000) and 5% (729,000 v. 764,000), respectively. MSNBC was also up 18% in the key adult 25-54 demographic (105,000 v. 89,000). In addition, the network’s primetime programming lineup continued to climb (M-F 8:00–11:00 pm ET). MSNBC was up 51% in total viewers (504,000 v. 334,000) while both CNN and FOX were down, 14% (672,000 v. 778,000) and 2% (1,547,000 v. 1,574,000), respectively. MSNBC was also up 39% in the adult demographic (179,000 v. 129,000).

MSNBC’s daytime programming block (9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET) also grew at a steady pace, up 13% in total viewers (215,000 v. 191,000) and up 15% in the adult demographic (78,000 v. 68,000). This includes “Tucker” at 4:00 pm (ET), which was up 13% in total viewers (238,000 v. 211,000) and “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” which was up 10% in total viewers (357,000 v. 326,000) and up 19% in the adult demographic (123,000 v. 103,000).
(more…)

My Two Sense looks at Glenn Beck’s numbers and sees failure…

What does this all mean? Glenn Beck’s ratings are extremely low. The “Glenn Beck experiment” that Headline News started over a year ago has failed. A year ago, Glenn Beck was heralded as some sort of new talk show host that would revolutionize cable news. Instead, he is another in a long line of right wing radio talk show hosts who has failed in television.

In fact, Glenn Beck’s numbers for this week were LOWER then a year ago when he was just starting. A year’s worth of programming, advertising, and everything else that CNN and Headline News has done to push Glenn Beck has not made a bit of difference.

I’m not convinced. The numbers are all over the place. Sometimes they’re up, sometimes they’re down…way down. The thing is Beck is part of a HLN prime that has been nipping at MSNBC’s heels recently. In fact HLN was going through a streak of beating MSNBC in the prime time Demo just a few weeks ago.

UPDATE: I take it back. I was wrong. I went back through the ratings for the past six weeks and I had thought HLN had beaten MSNBC more often than it really had. I counted roughly six times when HLN edged out MSNBC in the Demo. Not enough to accurately characterize this as “nipping at MSNBC’s heels”. And that’s reflected in the May numbers…

May 2007 Primetime P25-54

MSNBC - 179,000
CNN - 197,000
HLN - 132,000

MSNBC is closer to CNN than it is to HLN.

GretaWire blogs about interviewing John McCain’s wife…

As you read this blog, we are “on the road”… headed to Arizona to interview Senator McCain’s wife in their home in Arizona. We hear so much about the candidates even this early in the campaign season (which is now a two-year season). I want to know about the candidates, but I also find it fascinating to see who might be the first lady (or… in ‘08, I should add, who might be the “first gentleman”?)

If all goes as planned, we will fly five hours to Arizona, drive to the McCain home, do the interview, drive back to the airport and fly five hours back to D.C. Everyone on our staff thinks we will make our return flight to D.C. and get back in time to do our 10 p.m. show, but I am pessimistic about this one. I have done the math. I bet we end up in Arizona tonight night… or a guest host pops up at 10 p.m. on our show while we make our way back east. Care to bet?

CNBC came in second in Prime Time Saturday in both Total Viewers and the Demo.

Cable News Ratings May 26, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 548,000 viewers
CNN – 309,000 viewers
MSNBC – 277,000 viewers
CNBC – 259,000 viewers
HLN – 215,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 639,000 viewers
CNN – 332,000 viewers
MSNBC – 255,000 viewers
CNBC – 338,000 viewers
HLN – 211,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 162,000 viewers
CNN – 106,000 viewers
MSNBC –126,000 viewers
CNBC – 102,000 viewers
HLN – 74,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 134,000 viewers
CNN – 97,000 viewers
MSNBC – 90,000 viewers
CNBC – 107,000 viewers
HLN – 57,000 viewers

Cable News Ratings for May 27, 2007
(more…)

The New York Times’ David Leonhardt writes about the big controversy about Lou Dobbs’ position, reiterated during his 60 Minutes interview, regarding leprosy cases involving immigrants…

So Mr. Dobbs was flat-out wrong. And when I spoke to him yesterday, he admitted as much, sort of. I read him Ms. Romans’s comment — the one with the word “suddenly” in it — and he replied, “I think that is wrong.” He then went on to say that as far as he was concerned, he had corrected the mistake by later broadcasting another report, on the same night as his on-air confrontation with the Southern Poverty Law Center officials. This report mentioned that leprosy had peaked in 1983.

Of course, he has never acknowledged on the air that his program presented false information twice. Instead, he lambasted the officials from the law center for saying he had. Even yesterday, he spent much of our conversation emphasizing that there really were 7,000 cases in the leprosy registry, the government’s 30-year database. Mr. Dobbs is trying to have it both ways.

I have been somewhat taken aback about how shameless he has been during the whole dispute, so I spent some time reading transcripts from old episodes of “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” The way he handled leprosy, it turns out, is not all that unusual.

Bill Lofy pens an Op-Ed in the Burlington Free Press regarding Bill O’Reilly’s war with the Vermont Legislature over Jessica’s Law…

UPDATE: Though dated today, this article is two weeks old and O’Reilly has already responded to it…

Rep. Lippert and many victims’ rights groups oppose the law because it is ineffective. Data from the U.S. Department of Justice show that 25-year minimums, by discouraging plea bargains, can actually undermine the chances of getting a conviction and increase the likelihood of a sex offender’s walking free without serving any time (many victims refuse to testify at trial, and the burden of proof is so onerous that offenders are often acquitted).

But facts won’t get in Bill O’Reilly’s way. On the May 14 program, O’Reilly was almost gleeful about the ambush. In a segment called “The Truth About Vermont,” O’Reilly accused Rep. Lippert of coddling sex offenders.

Why would Fox News target Bill Lippert? The answer is as simple as it is unsettling: Rep. Lippert is gay. As a leader in the effort to pass Vermont’s landmark civil union legislation a few years ago, Rep. Lippert has been a target of anti-gay vitriol for several years from people who rely on hateful and threatening rhetoric to promote their agenda.

Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman has an interview with NBC News’ Senior Vice President Mark Whitaker…

Whitaker, 49, started his journalism career as a Newsweek intern three decades ago. With perseverance and exemplary news judgment, he shot up the ladder and became the magazine’s editor in 1998. Last year, he took a position as editor in chief of new ventures at Washingtonpost Newsweek Interactive.

Then a few months ago, NBC News chief Steve Capus made Whitaker a career-altering offer: an opportunity to be his deputy, with oversight of the department’s daily editorial, newsgathering and new-media efforts.

Flattered, Whitaker also was eager to try something different. “I loved being editor of Newsweek, and I realized how much I missed the news,” he told me. “It’s exciting to be learning something really new and challenging. I turn 50 in the fall. I’m just young enough to have an interesting, fulfilling next chapter.”

I asked Whitaker how he’ll judge whether his time at NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., was a success. He said that it will occur when “people will feel that NBC is hot and it’s on a roll.”

Multichannel News’ Steve Donahue writes about viewers and listeners demanding the return of Don Imus…

Still can’t get over the dozens of “Talk Back” responses from the story we first posted Friday about MSNBC considering Joe Scarborough as a replacement for Imus In The Morning.

While some Multichannel News readers are debating whether MSNBC should go with Joe Scarborough, David Gregory or another anchor, the majority of the readers posting feedback say they want MSNBC to bring back the I-Man.

I won’t criticize the decision from NBC News to cancel Imus In The Morning, but I miss the show. Not for the politically incorrect jokes and skits that got Imus canned, but for the interviews Imus conducted.

Inside Radio has a blurb on MSNBC’s ratings for the 6-9am slot previously occupied by Don Imus…

Since Don Imus was fired 50% of its viewers are gone according to Nielsen. In March the cable net averaged a 0.4 rating and 316,000 households. But for the month of May – after Imus was gone – it has a 0.2 rating and 177,000 households. Joe Scarborough continues his morning tryout this week.

CNN’s Political Ticker has an exchange between Mitt Romney and an attendee to a speaking engagement Romney was holding. Not sure how newsy this is though. The guy seems like a mole to me…

“I am one person who will not vote for a Mormon,” the man, identified by the Associated Press as Al Michaud, said to Romney as he approached Michaud’s table.

“Oh, is that right?” Romney said. “Can I shake your hand anyway?”

“No,” Michaud said, refusing to meet eyes with the Republican presidential candidate.

Romney then said okay, chuckled, and walked away from Michaud’s table.

TVNewser reports that reporter Jeff Koinage is no longer employed with CNN…