The LA Times’ Mary McNamara argues John Gibson’s comments are right up there with Don Imus’…

After the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and other groups denounced Gibson’s behavior, he at first defended it as a joke, explaining that he had long made fun of the “quit you” line and wasn’t about to stop now. Then Thursday, clearly responding to increased pressure, he issued a statement during Fox News’ “The Big Story With John Gibson and Heather Nauert,” saying he was sorry if some people were offended by his remarks and also that he was sorry Ledger had died.

If this reminds you of another radio personality’s recent tour through the early stages of (at least temporary) career death — denial, anger, bargaining — there’s good reason. Don Imus lost his show as a result of a similar “joke” — a racist reference to the Rutgers women’s basketball team — and there is no good reason why Gibson’s fate should not be similar.

With the Florida Republican Debate MSNBC won the night in Total Viewers and the Demo.

Daily Live+SD Ratings for January 24, 2008

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It was announced at the end of Prime News that Mike Galanos will be taking over Erica Hill’s seat…

FNC announced that it will air a special on President Bush on Sunday anchored by Bret Baier…

On Sunday, January 27th, FOX News Channel will air a special titled, “George W. Bush: Fighting to the Finish”. FOX News’ Bret Baier goes inside the Oval Office, Texas Ranch, aboard Air Force One and into the private quarters of the White House for an in-depth interview with George W. Bush as he begins the final year of his presidency.

FNC’s coverage plans for Saturday’s South Carolina Democratic Primary…

FNC will provide live coverage of the South Carolina Democratic Primary on Saturday January 26th. FNC’s Shepard Smith will anchor You Decide 2008: South Carolina Primary coverage from 6:30-8 PM ET. A special edition of Hannity & Colmes will follow from 8-9 PM along with a You Decide 2008 special hosted by Bret Baier from 9-10PM.

FNC’s daytime and primetime coverage will include reports from a team of anchors including Chris Wallace, Bill Hemmer and Martha McCallum.
FNC correspondents will be reporting live from South Carolina, including Major Garrett, Steve Brown, Molly Henneberg and Caroline Shively.

FNC special programming will include:
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CNN put out a long release announcing the political programming it will be carrying leading up to Super Tuesday…

With more viewers turning to CNN for their primary election night and debate coverage than any other cable news network, CNN will offer marathon political programming leading up to Super Tuesday, the most important primary day in of the 2008 election.

Coverage will kick off on Saturday, Jan. 26, with a four-hour installment of “Ballot Bowl,” uninterrupted coverage of Democratic and Republican candidates’ significant live and recent events, leading up to the network’s coverage of the Democratic primary in South Carolina. Extended political programming continues through Monday, Jan. 28, with President George W. Bush’s final State of the Union address and through Super Tuesday on Feb. 5 with a 40-hour marathon of continuous live political coverage.

Building on the enormous success of CNN’s presidential primary debates, CNN, the Los Angeles Times and POLITICO will hold two back-to-back presidential primary debates, the final face-off before more than 20 states flock to the polls for Super Tuesday. The Republican debate will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 30, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., and the Democratic debate will take place on Thursday, Jan. 31, at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.
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The Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Neal Justin writes about this year’s “winning campaign coverage”…

With the political season in full heat and Super Tuesday looming Feb. 5, it’s time for every patriotic American to pick favorites.

I’m not referring to presidential candidates (I’m still torn between Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits on “The West Wing”). I’m talking about the media. While it’s too early to call anyone the clear leader in providing campaign coverage, it’s a good time to pinpoint the front- runners in a hotly contested race to enlighten and entertain viewers.

Keep in mind that I don’t have five eyeballs and I also have to keep tabs on what’s happening on “One Tree Hill.” In other words, I’ve certainly missed some excellent work. I’ve already been taken to task by readers about not paying enough attention to MSNBC, something I hope to make up for in ensuing weeks. But I have seen enough to throw some laurels to some excellent journalists, a few of whom may surprise you.

Silicon Alley Insider’s Henry Blodgett saw the incident…

It was scripted, though. As we recall, the line went something like this:

“Apple was the It stock of 2007 and now it’s the Sh*…..t stock of 2008.” That’s just how she read it–with a wince and a wink and a smile. (While wearing a leather suit, no less).

Update: Hot Air has the video…

According to FishbowlDC Keith Olbermann will be one of the guests this weekend on CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz….

NBC’s release on the 2008 SOTU coverage…

NBC News and MSNBC will provide comprehensive coverage of President Bush’s final State of the Union Address to the joint session of Congress on January 28, 2008 and the Democratic response from Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, which will immediately follow.

Brian Williams will anchor NBC News’ live coverage beginning at 9 p.m. ET from the NBC News studios in Washington, D.C. Joining Williams will be NBC News’ Washington D.C. Bureau Chief and moderator of “Meet the Press” Tim Russert. Also reporting will be Kelly O’Donnell live from the House Chamber and David Gregory from the White House, along with the rest of the NBC News team.

MSNBC
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The Horse’s Mouth’s Greg Sargent blogs about James Carville and Paul Begala being kept off the political analysis beat on CNN until the primaries are resolved.

Okay, this is interesting. I’ve just learned that CNN has told top Dem strategists James Carville, Paul Begala, and Robert Zimmerman — who are CNN mainstays but are all Hillary supporters — that they will not be doing any more political analysis on the network until the Democratic primary has reached a conclusion.

I’m also told that this move came after the Obama campaign repeatedly complained to high level officials at CNN about the presence of Carville and Begala on the network.

Sargent has confirmation from both Carville and CNN’s Political Director Sam Feist that Carville and Begala are off the political analysis beat for now…

TVNewser noted yesterday that CNN suffered a ratings fall-off on Tuesday after its big Monday night debate. Here are two charts which illustrate that story…
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CNBC announced that the new season of its American Greed series will begin next Wednesday, January 30th, at 9pm ET…

Everybody wants to be rich, but some people will stop at nothing…..

The series that examines the dark side of the American dream is back for another season on Wednesday, January 30th at 9PM & 12AM ET. CNBC’s unprecedented original primetime series, “American Greed,” focuses on how greed change’s people’s lives and proves people will do anything for money.

The season premiere of “American Greed” exposes the story of Martin Frankel, a self-taught stockbroker and con man who refers to himself as a “financial genius.” Money laundering, prostitution and drug abuse, Frankel’s crimes left a trail of financial fraud, empty bank accounts…and death.
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TV Decoder’s Brian Stelter scoops that CNN will be announcing the hiring of Jay Kernis as Managing Editor…

The cable news network will announce the move on Friday morning. Mr. Kernis will oversee content development out of New York for CNN, supervising the news planning, health, technology and environment, entertainment, and guest bookings units of the network’s newsgathering operation. He will report to Nancy Lane, the Atlanta-based senior vice president of editorial.

Update: The release…

Expanding upon CNN’s momentum and building on its recent successes, CNN/U.S. has appointed Jay Kernis as managing editor, it was announced today by Nancy Lane, senior vice president of newsgathering for CNN/U.S. Kernis is currently the senior vice president of programming for NPR and will join CNN on Monday, Feb. 4.
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Page Six gleefully writes about an incident involving Erin Burnett…

ERIN Burnett has a potty mouth. The CNBC hottie reported Wednesday that Apple shares were down, and noted, “It was the It Stock of ‘07, and it is apparently the s - - t stock of 2008.” CNBC flack Brian Steel later insisted to Page Six: “It was a scripted play on words - not an expletive.” It’s the second embarrassment for Burnett in three months. Back in November, she was forced to apologize after calling President Bush a “monkey.”

Game Daily’s James Brightman writes about the latest back and forth in the spat between EA and FNC’s The Live Desk over Mass Effect…

“Fox News Channel has extended several invitations to EA through a company representative to appear on ‘Live Desk With Martha MacCallum’ to discuss Mass Effect and the segment which aired on Monday. We have received no response,” reads the statement.

This is contrary to what EA VP of Communications Jeff Brown told us – that all he received was a one-line Blackberry message from the producer directing him to contact Fox’s PR team.

The Huffington Post’s Jason Linkins writes about last night’s debate and criticizes the moderators…

As always, I can’t help seem to get to the end of these interminable debates without heaving a dumbstruck sigh, wondering how the people who get picked to moderate these affairs ever earned their reputation for intellectual rigor. There are moments when the Tim Russerts of the world (including Tim Russert himself) really lay into these candidates, and make an effort to expose their shortcomings. But this gotcha game rarely serves the public interest. Matt Yglesias captured the calculus quite well at one point back in November of last year, when he remarked, “Under this new dynamic, the role of the moderate is not to play host to an interesting informative discussion but rather to maximize the odds that some particular 10 second snippet of an hour-long broadcast will be worthy of rebroadcast. Hence, the focus on inane questions designed less to draw out an illuminating remark than to trip someone up.”