Today on “The Situation Room,” Wolf Blitzer interviewed Senator Chuck Schumer about Alberto Gonzales’ resignation, Iraq and Senator Craig. Transcript follows…

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Now that Alberto Gonzales is stepping down, some of his fiercest critics in the U.S. Senate are warning that the next attorney general had better be more than just an old pal of the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And joining us now from Rochester, New York, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Senator, thanks very much for coming in.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Good to be here, Wolf.

BLITZER: Now that Alberto Gonzales has decided to step down as the attorney general, are you still going to move full speed ahead with all these various investigations, or are you going to move on to some other issues?

SCHUMER: Well, it’s all going to be up to the — who the new attorney general is. It’s our hope that we can move forward with these investigations, but do it quickly and with dispatch.
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CNN is noting its August ratings…

August 2007 is CNN’s Best Month Since September 2005 in M-Su Prime

God’s Warriors Wins Prime Demo Every Night It Airs

Anderson Cooper 360 10p Hour has Best Delivery since Launch in Both P2+ and P25-54

Larry King Live at 9p Has Best Delivery since September 2005 in P2+

CNN Reaches 13.5 Million More Viewers than FNC in August

HLN’s Robin & Co. Beats MSNBC’s Morning Joe in Both Total Viewers and Demo in August

Headline News from 9-11p Posts Double Digit Gains in Both P2+ and P25-54
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Johnny Dollar has the video from today’s Your World where Mike Paul debated attorney Leo Terrell over Michael Vick and other things. To say it was a cordial discussion would not be accurate…

According to an emailer, FNC went to a commercial break just before the Larry Craig presser started. The presser got underway while FNC was on break and when FNC came back they had audio only at first. Video didn’t appear for about 20 seconds.

Following up on this, Bill McCuddy’s name has dissapeared from the FNC bio index. He was last seen on Fox and Friends last weekend…

Hot Air.com is noting that FNC and CNN have run ads from Ari Fleischer’s Freedom Watch group but MSNBC and CNBC have not. Ironically, Fleischer appeared on MSNBC yesterday as part of its Super Tuesday coverage.

CNBC and MSNBC are refusing to air the Freedoms Watch ads that we ran in a post last week. The ads feature testimonials by troops and families of troops who have fought in Iraq and support the mission.
They have run on Fox and CNN, but MSNBC and CNBC won’t run them. They’re claiming to have a policy of not airing ads centered on controversial public policy subjects, but according to a letter that Freedoms Watch released today, that explanation doesn’t fly.

All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher has a long interview with News Corp. President and COO Peter Chernin. At 42 minutes long this is for die hards only…(via FishbowlNY)

HLN’s Robin & Company bested MSNBC and its Morning Joe program in both the P2+ and P25-54 categories. This is the first time in more than two years (July 2005) that HLN has surpassed MSNBC in P2+ in the morning.

P2+
6-10a Robin & Co. 212,000
6-9a Morning Joe 206,000

P25-54
6-10a Robin & Co. 95,000
6-9a Morning Joe 74,000

MSNBC put out a release noting its August ratings…

MSNBC’s ratings growth continued this summer, as the network delivered the strongest growth of any cable news net in August in total day (M-Sun), weekday primetime (8-11 pm) and in sales primetime (M-Sun 7pm-2am) in both total viewers and the Adult 25-54 demographic, compared to August 06. “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” continued its success for the network, finishing #2 ahead of CNN at 8pm in both A25-54 and total viewers and up an astonishing 55 percent in the A25-54 demo and 67 percent in total viewers compared to last year.

• In Weekday primetime (8-11pm), MSNBC was up an amazing 45 percent in A25-54 (224,000 vs. 155,000) and up 46 percent in total viewers (553,000 vs. 378,000), the strongest growth of any cable news network. MSNBC ranked #1 among the news nets in the Adults 18-34 demographic in Mon-Sun. primetime (78,000), out-delivering CNN by 5,000 A18-34 and FNC by 18,000 A18-34.
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Let it not be said that the folks at On The Record don’t feel passionately about the news. But this may be pushing it…

Here is a list of the top 25 telecasts for August in the 25-54 Demo. Note that all but two, two O’Reilly Factor episodes, are of a breaking news/news special variety. The Mine Disaster and the Minneapolis bridge collapse dominated the month. Six of the top 10 and 14 of the top 25 were CNN programs. (numbers are Live+SD)

MSNBC announced its programming plans marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana…

MSNBC marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Princess Diana with dayside coverage and documentary premieres and specials. On Friday, August 31st, ten years after many Americans awoke to the startling news that the “People’s Princess” had died, MSNBC will air live coverage of the memorial service for Princess Diana near Buckingham Palace from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. ET. From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET, MSNBC will re-air the 1997 funeral of Princess Diana. MSNBC’s Alex Witt will also report live from London.

In addition, MSNBC will present three specials focusing on Princess Diana next weekend, including “Five Diana Conspiracy Theories,” “Time & Again: Royal Wedding,” and “The Princes: William and Harry.”
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FNC’s got Bill Keller on their mind but apparently not the right one for Hannity & Colmes…

During America’s Newsroom it was reported that FNC’s D.C. Bureau is suffering from a power outage. No backup generator?

Multichannel News’ Todd Spangler writes about new Cablevision territory Verizon FiOS is about to enter…

The company already offers FiOS TV in more than 120 New York communities.

None of which will have access to MSNBC thanks to Cablevision’s exclusivity deal…

As ICN first reported last night, Dan Abrams took on Christiane Amanpour and CNN over their God’s Warriors documentary specials. Partial transcript follows…(transcript via NewsBusters)

UPDATE: CAMERA has the video…

UPDATE2: Eat the Press’ Rachel Sklar seems to be siding with Abrams…

DAN ABRAMS: For the past week, CNN has been proudly promoting and then celebrating its series called God’s Warriors, presumably a look at radicals of different religions willing to fight for their cause. My take: I think it’s fair to say it was not what it claimed or promised to be.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So we’re not here lobbying for or advocating for or drawing conclusions, either political, religious or ideological-

ABRAMS: Oh, yes they did. CNN should have called it what it was: a defense of Islamic fundamentalism and the worst type of moral relativism. For each of three nights, CNN devoted two hours to the, quote, “warriors” of each religion: Jewish, Christian and Muslim. But rather than distinguish between Islamic terrorists who utilize fierce violence to achieve warped goals, and the merely fiercely religious or even just those who fiercely believe in the state of Israel, Christiane Amanpour avoided getting bogged down in objectivity. Christians and Jews, for example, who support Israel’s strategy for self-defense are just as much God’s warriors, according to Amanpour, as the Islamic radicals who blow themselves and others up in an effort to destroy the world as we know it. A handful of the most radical of the Jews and Christians who can almost all be identified by name are highlighted. The violent Islamic fundamentalists are, quote, “understood,” with no comparable effort to “understand” the evangelical Christians or Israelis. Amanpour even offers an explanation for the angry radical Islamists. She blames the warrior Jews.
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On Friday, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta joined Atlanta’s mayor Shirley Franklin for her monthly book club featuring his new book, Chasing Life. Once a month, Mayor Franklin selects a particular book and invites the author in for discussion. Dr. Gupta spoke to a crowd of about 60 city employees.

ICN is hearing rumblings that tonight at 9pm ET Dan Abrams may unload a big salvo at Christiane Amanpour and CNN over the God’s Warriors specials and how some religions were treated differently than others…

Both FNC and CNN took the Michael Vick presser live. MSNBC, which has been devoting today and tomorrow to the Lance Armstrong Presidential forums on Cancer, stayed with Chris Matthews and Lance Armstrong talking with Hillary Clinton. Must have been a tough call for MSNBC; go live with the sensational Vick story or stick to its political branding effort.

The Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart pans Keith Olbermann’s performance on Countdown last night…

In a phoner with reporters last week, Keith Olbermann promised that his special network version of “Countdown,” which aired last night, would not be any different that any “Countdown” he does for MSNBC. But that wasn’t true. My guess is that someone at NBC convinced Olbermann that for his first appearance as a newsman on the network it would be a good idea to take his hard-edged, hard-headed approach to “Countdown” and, well, soften it up a bit.

KO is a smart guy, but that was not a smart move.

I understand that audiences might be unfamiliar with Olbermann’s program, and could find the full-spectrum, serious-to-silly coverage that is “Countdown’s” specialty a tad disconcerting. But I felt it was unwise and, ultimately, condescending to bring on both Mo Rocca and the guy who hosts “The Soup” for separate segments. This on a night when KO was already altering his program to include a cold open (explaining to network viewers expecting to see Chris Hansen shaking down Internet sex fiends what they were about to see instead) and a football segment at the end, leading into NBC’s “Football Night in America,” on which Olbermann now also toils.

CNN.com announced that Reggie Aqui has joined its online anchor team…

Reggie Aqui has joined the CNN.com anchor team, it was announced today by Sandy Malcolm, executive producer of CNN.com video. As a CNN.com anchor, Aqui will guide users through news reports and breaking news coverage on the site’s live video service and will anchor “Now in the News,” a fast-paced hourly Web- and wireless-exclusive news update. He will also provide updates on CNN/U.S. and Headline News about the most popular stories on CNN.com.

“As the most popular gateway to news on the Web, CNN.com stands as the only news site offering multiple live video streams as well as full-time anchors,” Malcolm said. “The addition of Reggie helps us to continue to grow a well-rounded team of journalists for CNN.com, enabling us to give our users the news they want, how they want it and when they want it.”
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Zap 2 it.com notes that Countdown came in third last night…

UPDATE: These obviously aren’t the final numbers. I should have mentioned that.

CBS dominated the 7 p.m. hour with “60 Minutes,” 6.0/12. A repeat of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” 3.8/7, put ABC in second. NBC aired a special edition of MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” scoring a 2.7/5. FOX got a 2.2/4 from “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?,” and The CW trailed with a “Smallville” rerun.

Keep in mind that Countdown didn’t air at the same time slot in each timezone unlike 60 Minutes. It aired at 10pm on the West Coast and wasn’t up against 60 Minutes. Do the ratings take that into account? I don’t know.

Big Head D.C. is reporting that CNBC has hired a headhunter for the Vice President of the network’s Public Relations department…

MSNBC announced that its Super Tuesday political coverage will air tomorrow to coincide with the Livestrong Presidential Cancer Forum Chris Matthews is co-moderating…

MSNBC’s “Super Tuesday” returns tomorrow, Aug. 28, with non-stop, all-day political news and analysis. Coverage will begin at 9 a.m. (ET) and will include highlights of the first-ever Livestrong® Presidential Cancer Forum.

Chris Matthews, MSNBC’s election anchor and host of “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” will serve as co-moderator of the Livestrong Forum along with seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. Presidential hopefuls will gather today and tomorrow in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to discuss how best to fight cancer. Democratic participants include Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Gov. Bill Richardson. Republican participants are Sen. Sam Brownback and Gov. Mike Huckabee.

MSNBC “Super Tuesday” anchors will include NBC Washington Bureau Chief and moderator of “Meet the Press” Tim Russert, “Today” co-host Natalie Morales, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson, Chris Jansing, Tamron Hall, Contessa Brewer and “Hardball” correspondent David Shuster. Tomorrow’s “Super Tuesday” will conclude with a special “Hardball” live from Cedar Rapids at 5 p.m. ET.
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CNN’s airing of God’s Christian Warriors was the highest rated program in the P25-54 Demo for Thursday. (Live +SD)

Henry Blodget in the Silicon Valley Insider looks at CNBC’s new website (and manages to work in a shot at Jim Cramer, natch)…

What is really killing CNBC online is the inability to stream every show live. Most executives (though not all) don’t want or aren’t allowed to have flat-screen TVs hanging in their offices, and the ones on Wall Street trading floors are just eye-candy. If CNBC were streamed online, however, just about every Wall Street executive would sneak an occasional peak, and some would keep a window permanently open on their screens.

What is preventing this obvious killer app? Most likely fear of cannibalization, combined with the network’s agreements with cable companies. The cannibalization concern could be neutralized if CNBC charged, say, $5 a month for more than, say, 5 minutes a week: Those who could rationalize this modest subscription as a “work-related expense” would pay it. So it’s probably the cable companies.

FNC’s Steve Centanni penned an article in his (and my) hometown paper, The San Jose Mercury News…

According to research by the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based advocacy group, 15 journalists have been kidnapped in Gaza since 2004. All were freed and unharmed.

But these abductions in Gaza were just part of a much larger picture. Reporters Without Borders found that at least 871 members of the media were detained around the world last year, and 129 have been imprisoned so far this year. They, too, were just doing their jobs. And some paid a very high price indeed.

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports 31 journalists have been killed in the first seven months of 2007. Reporters Without Borders puts the number at 59. This is not only a tragedy for those hardworking journalists and their families, but for the larger cause of freedom of speech, freedom of the press.

Journalists must be free to cover difficult stories in dangerous places. The riots, wars and humanitarian disasters are the visible fault lines of our society. If we don’t shed light on them, we lose a vital opportunity - a chance to save lives, lift people out of poverty and build the foundations of a more peaceful world.

CNN was first with the news that Alberto Gonzales was resigning. MSNBC was second and FNC third…

The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz profiles Erin Burnett. Joe Scarborough was ribbing Burnett over the article this morning on Morning Joe…

The 31-year-old is razor sharp, works crazy hours, is comfortable discussing liquidity or collateralized debt obligations — and everyone keeps talking about her looks. Under the lights, in a smoky blue dress that matches her eyes as well as her shoes, her flowing dark hair perfectly teased, she is not exactly hard on the eyes.

“It’s television, so you can’t fully avoid that,” Burnett says. “Once you get by that veneer, people aren’t going to give you the time of day if you don’t deliver the goods.”

Yes, but . . .

“Do looks play a role in who gets what in television? I can’t deny it. But if that’s what you had to offer, you couldn’t stay in that position.”

The press has cast her as the new Money Honey, a kind of Maria Bartiromo 2.0, and even some of her colleagues seem mesmerized. During an MSNBC interview this month, Matthews egged her on: “Could you get a little closer to the camera? . . . Really close.” When Burnett expressed puzzlement, Matthews exclaimed: “You look great! . . . No, you’re beautiful. I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding. You’re a knockout.” Burnett now calls it “a strange moment.”

The Boston Globe’s Nick A. Zaino III has more…

What’s appealing about Provincetown is that you never know who — or what — you might run into. The other day, we caught up with Alisyn Camerota, who, you may recall, left Boston a few years back bound for the Fox mothership. Vacationing on the outer Cape with her husband and three children, the “Fox and Friends” anchor told us she misses her old stomping grounds. (Camerota was here for a decade, first at channel 7 and then as the New England correspondent for Fox. “I miss Boston every single day, and if there was some way to get back there, I would,” she said. Camerota, who’s up and at ‘em every day at 3:15 a.m., admits she’s not wild about her schedule. “I want to shoot myself every morning,” she says, “but by 4:30 a.m., we’re having a good time.” And about Fox’s rep as the network for Republicans, she says it’s nonsense. “That’s painting with a broad brush,” she says. “We just tell stories differently than the other networks, and people have paid us the highest form of flattery by copying us.”

The New York Post’s Peter Lauria and Richard Wilner conjur up a controversy regarding Maria Bartiromo out of thin air…

Angelo? Maybe she’s trying to make The Bronx native and Fordham University graduate feel a little better or perhaps she felt a friendship with her fellow New York City native.

After all, many years ago in an interview of the then-Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange Richard Grasso, Bartiromo addressed her paisan as Dick. Bartiromo also addresses former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill as Sandy whenever they speak.

We asked a CNBC spokesman about it but he refused to comment.

Why should CNBC comment? There’s no story here. And Lauria and Wilner know it. Even by Post standards this hit piece is bad…

Did your NBC affiliate show Countdown before the NFL game? My local NBC affiliate KNTV did not. And it’s in Market 5 and it’s also an NBC O&O. Shocking. Perhaps it will air after. It was on the west coast after all and west coast affiliates tend to show pre sports programming after the game when the game starts at 5pm PST. So west coast readers may want to hold off answering until 10pm PST.

UPDATE: The Huffington Post’s Taylor Marsh goes postal over his Las Vegas NBC affiliate pre-empting it.

UPDATE 2: KNTV did air it at 10pm. The West Coast gets screwed again…

UPDATE 3: According to the comments the West Coast feed had the Live bug on it. I don’t know how I missed that. Would have been a great way to kick off a segment called “The Hazards of Taped TV”…

What’s Hot

CNN’s Publicity Department - When CNN has something big cooking their publicity machine tends to go all out, but this week ratcheted things up to another level with the publicity for “God’s Warriors”. In addition to the usual blanket publicity campaign there was a concerted effort to reach out to the blogger community this time. Although the event was sort of scripted, with questions being submitted in advance rather than a free flow chat, just the fact that CNN tried this maneuver is notable.

Christiane Amanpour - This one is rather self-evident. You had to be living under a rock to not notice Amanpour’s profile this week.

Keith Olbermann - Though he was off Countdown most of the week, Olbermann’s name was all over the press with the announcement that NBC was going to run Countdown before the NFL preseason game Sunday night.

Geraldo Rivera - Whether it was mixing it up with Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, or Michelle Dellaroche, Rivera was front and center in the topic of illegal immigration this week.

FNC opens Studio E - Fox and Friends was the first show to debut in FNC’s brand new Studio E, but it won’t be the last. Up on deck, The Fox Report and Studio B (but will it still be called Studio B?)…

What’s Not

Tammy Haddad - Haddad was removed or resigned (depending on whose story you believe) as EP of Hardball this week. Haddad will still be a force in MSNBC’s D.C. Bureau but this was a definite prestige hit for her.

Today on Fox News Sunday Chris Wallace reponded to Bill Moyers letter to Wallace over the Karl Rove interview last week…(video via 186K Per Second.com)

Time now for some mail — actually, one letter from liberal commentator Bill Moyers. You may remember in my interview with Karl Rove last Sunday, I asked him about a Moyers statement that Rove is reportedly an agnostic who manipulated the Christian right for political gain.

Well, Rove answered that he’s an observant Episcopalian and Moyers, quote, “ought to do a little better research before he does another drive-by slander.”
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OUR secular society has done away with religious art, but painter Alex Gardega has come up with a way to revitalize the genre. “I’m painting a large version of Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ with Bill O’Reilly featured as Christ and the rest of the Fox folks at the table,” he said. “In place of Judas there will be Alan Colmes, and Sean Hannity will replace Peter. I’m painting it to explore the concept that media has become our new religion.”

- Today’s Page Six