CNN’s “The Lead” hid the big news in paragraph 17 of a story published on CNN.com Monday night about soaps returning from the dead.

And oh, they are. But what, they had to make Jake Tapper‘s upcoming appearance on ABC’s “All My Children” the Buried Lead? The news anchor will play TV investigative reporter “Spencer Phillips.” For acting advice, Tapper went to Torsten Kaye who plays “Zach Slater.”

Tapper’s appearance is scheduled for August 19.

Watch a preview here. Soap Opera Network and WeLoveSoaps.net also had the news last night.

The Washington Examiner is shutting down its local operation this week, but Examiner transportation reporter Liz Essley’s week isn’t all about bad news.

Essley took the top prize in Tuesday’s “Dateline Awards” competition of the DC chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The reporter was awarded the Robert D.G. Lewis Watchdog Award, which includes a $1,000 check, for her series of stories on the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority.

Dozens of other reporters also received awards during the ceremony, which was during the SPJ’s annual Hall of Fame induction dinner. More Examiner reporters were on the list of award winners, including Steve Contoro and Mark Flatten, along with finalists Rick Snider and Kytja Weir.

A complete list of winners can be found here.

Washington experienced a downpour Monday evening that resulted in flash flood warnings throughout the area. But hey, why should potentially life-threatening rainfall mean that the most dramatic part of the night’s “Bachelorette” be interrupted for a weather report?

Just as one of the contestants on the ABC reality dating show was confronted on-camera by his incensed ex-girlfriend for not telling her he was competing on a reality show for Desiree Hartsock‘s love (Des is pictured above), ABC7′s Doug Hill interrupted to give viewers a weather update.

Some were aghast at his horrible timing. “I demand an apology for interrupting the climax of the ‘Bachelorette,’” viewer Kelsey Donley tweeted at Hill. And she was only one of many upset with ABC7′s cut-in. Read more

C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” hit the road early this morning to pay a visit to Yahoo! News’ newsroom. They had three of their journalists on the program. Sequentially, starting at 7:45 a.m. — ouch! — they had Chief Washington Correspondent Olivier Knox, Political Reporter Chris Moody and White House Correspondent Rachel Rose Hartman.

In C-SPAN’s history of showing newsrooms (Washington Star in 1980, Baltimore Sun 1983, USA Today 1983, Chicago Tribune 1984, Denver Post 1984), this is the first time they’ve ever gone remote into a non-print publication.

Watch here.

What other publications has C-SPAN visited? Also: see Moody from this morning… Read more

It’s well known that the staff at Politico is between the sheets with MSNBC and on the outs with FNC. An excerpt from the to-be-released An Atheist in the FOXhole published by Salon confirms that fact and provides a little more detail:

Sometimes entire organizations were given lifetime bans [at Fox News]. The website Politico wrote something a few years back that rubbed Roger the wrong way (we were never told what exactly the transgression was) and word went out to all the shows: No more Politico reporters as guests. Also, any anchors who mentioned the site on air had to use the phrase “left-wing Politico” — an absurd designation for a publication that usually played it down the middle.

A web search shows Politico has, in the past, been referred to as “liberal” or “lefty” at FNC. Those references seemed to take place exclusively on FNC’s morning show “Fox & Friends” and with particular zeal from co-host Steve Doocy.

It’s common knowledge that many current and former reporters at Politico (and a lot of different publications on Planet Earth) are on the outs with FNC and FNC PR in particular, with editors and scribes dealing with intense squabbles. But is Ben Smith to blame for the deep rift? Read more

(A sprinkling of things we think you ought to know…)

New WaPo executive editor is “human Ritalin”-- Martin Baron, executive editor at WaPo, is profiled by National Journal’s Chris Frates. Except “profiled” is usually a word reserved for people who let you in and see at least some of what makes them tick. Baron won’t say what makes him tick. He’ll hardly say anything. It’s even a wonder he agreed to have a story written about him. “Baron is almost a kind of D.C. antimatter,” Frates writes. “He does not talk about himself. He does not discuss much of himself, his personal life or, more important, how he runs The Post…” But what readers do learn about Baron is that he’s a middle-of-the-road, no frills “newsman” in every traditional sense of the word. “Human Ritalin,” as Frates describes it.

“Morning Joe” is “what’s wrong” with MSNBC?– Salon‘s Alex Pareene has a thing for “Morning Joe.” Namely, he hates it. He regularly calls the show’s main host Joe Scarborough a hack, but then again he has an annual hack list in which lots of journalists are hacks. He picks up on any controversial remark. There’s nothing discernibly nice that Pareene has ever written about the show. That pattern continued Monday when Pareene wrote that the reason for MSNBC’s recent decline in overall ratings can be encapsulated in “Morning Joe.” “Every other TV morning show is mostly fluff and weather,” Pareene writes. “’Morning Joe,’” instead of entertainment news updates, has a former member of Congress wave a newspaper at Mark Halperin for a while. MSNBC’s target audience may just be much less interested in listening to people talk about politics in spring 2013 than they were during an election year.”

Former CBS White House Correspondent was once lifted into the air by Shaq– In a column for The Atlantic, co-host of CBS’s “This Morning” Norah O’Donnell details her media diet. Somewhat arbitrarily included in the column…

Read more

When PBS’s Gwen Ifill spoke at the Wake Forest University commencement last week, she shared the typical message of continuing to learn and making change in the world. But told graduates not to look to the nation’s capital as a good example.

“Here’s a hint: don’t take your guidance from what you see in Washington,” Ifill said. “I hate to say it, it’s often the worst possible example of how to make change.”

Instead of being cynical about politics, the “Washington Week” moderator said she was “skeptical.” Read more

Forbes‘ annual “100 Most Powerful Women in the World” list published Wednesday. Included on the list is Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren in the 97th slot.

The bio describes Van Susteren as “the longest serving cable news anchor on TV and the most-watched woman on cable news.” It continues, however, to note that “plunging ratings have sparked rumors that the anchor might lose her prime time slot.”

Other newswomen included on the list: Huffington Post Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington (56), NYT Executive Editor Jill Abramson (19) and CBS anchor Diane Sawyer (73).

On her Gretawire blog… Read more

White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer didn’t take his Sunday off, instead going on a marathon of five show appearances to discuss the myriad of scandals.

During his TV tour, Pfeiffer was grilled on questions that have been raised over the past week during his tour of shows, which included ABC’s “This Week,” NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday” and CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Perhaps the most controversial remark made by Pfeiffer was made on “This Week,” when Pfeiffer called the legality of the Justice Department’s subpoena of Associated Press phone records “irrelevant.”

“I can’t speak the law — the law here, but the law is irrelevant,” Pfeiffer said.

When questioned on his comment by host George Stephanopoulos, Pfeiffer clarified that he meant the DOJ’s actions were wrong whether they were legal or not.

“What I mean is that whether it’s legal, or illegal is — is not important to the fact that it — that, the conduct as a matter. The Department of Justice said they’re looking into the legality of this,” Pfeiffer said. “The president is not going to wait for that. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again regardless of how that turns out.”

Pfeiffer took to Twitter shortly after the interview to make sure his statement wasn’t taken out of context.

Before folks quoting me out of context get too far ahead of themselves, of course the law matters, IRS conduct is wrong even if legal

— Dan Pfeiffer (@pfeiffer44) May 19, 2013

That didn’t stop a storm of Tweets questioning not only Pfeiffer’s competence, but also Obama’s decision to send him on the shows. Read more

What is going on with Robert Gibbs? The ex-White House aide appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today and he looks, well, different. What happened to him? Take a look at him then and now.

Then and now…