Reliable Sources discussed Chris Matthews role as debate moderator for last Thursday’s debate. Transcript follows…

KURTZ: There are 10 Republican presidential candidates. You can name them all, can’t you? And they faced off this week for their first televised debate with each other, and the not so low key Chris Matthews. He soon turned the MSNBC debate into another edition of “HARDBALL,” spewing out questions faster and faster and faster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST, “HARDBALL”: Governor, would the day that Roe v. Wade is repealed be a good day for America?

Why do you support the use of public funds for abortion?

Has the increased influenced of Christian conservatives in your party been good for it?

Terri Schiavo, should Congress have acted or let the family make the decision — the husband?

Governor, should Bill Clinton be back in the White House? Is it good for America?
(more…)

Brian Williams blogs about moving out of his current studios to make way for the big renovation which will house NBC News and MSNBC…

We are days away from vacating our offices on the third floor of 30 Rock, which NBC News has occupied for decades. We are moving elsewhere during an enormous construction project which, when it’s complete, will house the entire NBC News family — from Nightly News to the Today Show to Dateline to MSNBC to Telemundo to our friends at WNBC-TV here in New York. We’ll be in beautiful temporary offices elsewhere in the building for a few months, before returning to this same floor to an all-new facility.

The Wall Street Journal has a couple of statements from Ottaway family members regarding the proposed sale of Dow Jones to News Corp. The Ottaways merged their newspapers with Dow Jones in 1970…

When my grandfather, James H. Ottaway, Sr. and father, James H. Ottaway, Jr. agreed to merge Ottaway Newspapers with Dow Jones in 1970, it was with an understanding that it was a deal between partners with shared values. They were drawn to a company that advocated free markets and free people, and to a Bancroft family that shared the belief that the news business is a public trust. Treating the news as a public trust was not just an important contribution to our open society, but also made good business sense.

You know of my father’s vehement opposition to a sale of Dow Jones to Murdoch. I am writing as a member of my generation to unequivocally state opposition to the sale of Dow Jones to News Corp. as well.

A deal with Rupert Murdoch would not be a deal between partners with shared values. One of Murdoch’s stated goals of the purchase is to use the Wall Street Journal to shore up his new business cable channel. By Murdoch’s own admission, this so-called business-friendly television channel would shy away from reporting scandals, and concentrate on the more positive business news. I could not help but think of Murdoch’s quote when I read that the Kremlin had ordered a news channel to report at least 50% positive news and treat the U.S. as an enemy.

As an investor, I would be very concerned to live in an era of making investment decisions based on the Murdoch-filtered business information. As a citizen I would be afraid to live in a world where news is solely entertainment, and there is an agenda behind every story I read, watch or hear. There is plenty of evidence that Murdoch does not treat his news services as a public trust. I will invoke just one. According to the Columbia Journalism Review (3-4/98), “several” former Fox employees “complained of ‘management sticking their fingers’ in the writing and editing of stories to cook the facts to make a story more palatable to right-of-center tastes.” Said one: “I’ve worked at a lot of news organizations and never found that kind of manipulation.” Although Ottaway family members have had grave disagreements with the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal from time to time, we never questioned the intellectual honesty or the agenda behind the opinions.

Yesterday, FNC was first to have an on the ground reporter in Greensburg, Kansas. FNC’s Carol McKinley reported live at 5:36 PM/ETfrom the town where tornadoes ripped through yesterday.

The AP recaps the mega Sean Hannity/Rocky Anderson debate…

Anderson and Hannity were given 30 minutes each to make a presentation supporting their positions on the two topics of debate. Anderson’s presentation included documents and videos outlining his case. Hannity focused his speech on criticizing dissenters.

“They’re hurting troops, hurting morale, they’re undermining what it is we’re trying to accomplish,” he said.

Hannity also called Anderson a hypocrite for not calling for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to be removed from office because Kerry voted to authorize the war.

“If Rocky Anderson will not be equally intelligent, honest and open and criticize the very same people that made the very same arguments, it’s not George Bush who should be impeached or removed from office. It’s your mayor,” Hannity said.

Radar’s Tyler Grey writes about Fred Thompson’s comments on various things including the MSNBC debate. Radar includes video.

On the Republican presidential debate (which Thompson skipped): “I didn’t watch it. [Laughs] I was on a plane for most of the time…. Ten people and Chris Matthews, that’s a challenge for anybody to watch.”

CNN’s release on its debate footage, which manages to tweak NBC/MSNBC big time without ever mentioning them by name (for backstory read here and here)…

As previously announced, CNN will team up with Hearst-Argyle’s WMUR-TV and the New Hampshire Union Leader to host two presidential debates to be held in America’s first primary state. The debate featuring Democratic candidates will be held on Sunday, June 3, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and the Republican debate will be held on Tuesday, June 5, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Due to the historical nature of presidential debates and the significance of these forums to the American public, CNN believes strongly that the debates should be accessible to the public. The candidates need to be held accountable for what they say throughout the election process.

The presidential debates are an integral part of our system of government, in which the American people have the opportunity to make informed choices about who will serve them. Therefore, CNN debate coverage will be made available without restrictions at the conclusion of each live debate.

We believe this is good for the country and good for the electoral process. This decision will apply to all of CNN’s presidential debates, beginning with the upcoming New Hampshire debates in June.