Good morning FishbowlDC! Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

What we know and what we’re reading this Monday morning…

NEWSPAPERS | TV | RADIO | ONLINE | NEWS NOTES | AWARDS & EVENTS

NEWSPAPERS

NYT‘s David Rohde is penning a five-part series on his captivity in Afghanistan and Pakistan and escape from Taliban kidnappers. Part one debuted in yesterday’s paper.

TV

So balloon boy was all a hoax. Police reports cite CNN’s Wolf Blitzer‘s interview with the Henne family on “Larry King Live” that night.

ABC’s Kate Snow meets KISS.

Fox News has apparently fired liberal pundit Marc Lamont Hill.

And TLC is suing Jon Gosselin.

RADIO

In a radio interview with CBS News, President George H.W. Bush said the tone of the national discourse lacks civility. “I don’t like it… The cables (TV) have a lot to do with it.” The former President also called MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann “sick puppies.” (h/t HuffPost)

ONLINE

Playbook: CNNImageSource.com, the network’s news on-demand source for video licensing, lists “Barack Obama Eating” at the top of its list of “Popular Searches.” Yields 108 results, from “OBAMA EATS WAFFLE” to “OBAMA HOT DOG STOP” to “OBAMA EATS MOUSE” (means “mousse”).

Sarah Palin has joined LinkedIn.

Former-actor-turned-Politico Kal Penn has been laying low at the White House. He blogged recently about President Obama’s celebration of Diwali and his restoration of the White House Initiative on Asian-Americans. (h/t Politico‘s Josh Gerstein)

NEWS NOTES

Motion Picture Association of America Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman has said he’ll step down when his contract ends in September 2010. Politico reports Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Rep. Harold Ford Jr., Universal Music lobbyist Matt Gerson, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), a longtime friend of Glickman’s, and internal candidates Richard Bates of Disney, MPAA COO Bob Pisano and federal affairs chief Michael O’Leary are among the names of possible replacements.

NYT: With the war in Afghanistan heating up, the coverage grows. “It’s like the Baghdad class of 2003 is now the Kabul class of 2009,” Richard Engel of NBC said.

AP: Military leaders in Afghanistan have backed off an attempt to ban news organizations embedded with the Army from photographing or videotaping images of U.S. personnel killed in the war.

Iran has released a foreign Newsweek reporter on bail this weekend after four months.

AWARDS & EVENTS

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart paid a visit to GWU Saturday for two standup performances.

This Wednesday, come to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to see you fave DC journos embarrass themselves with bad singing. CBS’ Bob Schieffer, Roll Call‘s Shira Toeplitz, Hotline‘s Quinn McCord, Mother Jones’ David Corn, Politico‘s Chris Frates, Politics Daily’s Lynn Sweet and Melinda Henneberger, TPM‘s Christina Bellantoni and TWT‘s Stephanie Green and Liz Glover are all taking part in “Karaoke in the Capitol.”

HAT TIPS: mediabistro, TVNewser, Politico

David Gregory is a lot taller than Jon Stewart. The “Meet the Press” anchor was a “Daily Show” guest last night.

Your must-see clips of the day…

First, via Politico, a montage of Tom DeLay dancing clips from last night’s debut on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” where he earned a modest score of 16, placing 4th.

Next up… Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) made an appearance on Jay Leno last night. Leno asked if he had to choose, who Frank would rather have dinner with among Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter. “I guess of the three, I would take Rush Limbaugh, because it would be very painful and he would come with the painkillers, which he always has.” Frank also said that if he could unseat any politician it would be the current governor of Alaska because he misses Sarah Palin. (h/t HuffPost)

And after the jump, Bill Clinton’s appearance on last night’s “Daily Show” with Jon Stewart…

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Politico‘s Robert Allbritton, John Harris, and Jim VandeHei join the ranks of Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett and Eric Schmidt (though we question his #5 ranking we suffered through Gmail glitches for hours yesterday) for the first time this year on Vanity Fair‘s annual top 100 Information Age powers list.

By our count, Allbritton and VandeHarris (sharing #84) are the only true DC’ers to make the list- other media types include faux-newsman Jon Stewart (48), PBS’ Charlie Rose (60), CBS’ Leslie Moonves (58), NBC Universal’s Jeff Zucker (61), CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett (sharing 69), NYT‘s Bill Keller (75), Fox News’ Glenn Beck (81), NYT‘s Frank Rich (83), TMZ’s Harvey Levin (85), HuffPost’s Arianna Huffington (88) and NYT‘s Paul Krugman (93).

Good morning FishbowlDC! Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

Happy Birthday to Mike Memoli, who celebrated yesterday, Major Garrett and David Gregory. It is Restaurant Week in DC! What hot spots are you hitting up? What know and what we’re reading this Monday morning…

TV | ONLINE | MAGAZINES | WEST WING REPORTAGE | NEWS NOTES | IN MEMORIAM | JOBS

TV

George Stephanopoulos traveled to the Grand Canyon for Sen. John McCain’s first interview since returning from Afghanistan and Iraq on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday.

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough did the roundtable on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this weekend, a week after Rachel Maddow‘s possible rating bump for the Sunday show.

CNN’s “Reliable Sources” talked Bill O’Reilly vs. Jon Stewart.

The Daily Beast brings us the Top 7 Moments From Sunday Talk.

And a more abbreviated version from Marc Ambinder- the Sunday shows in seven sentences or less.

In other TV news, former Senator Rick Santorum called President Obama’s position on cable news “unprofessional” in an appearance on Fox News’ “On the Record” with Greta van Susteren.

ONLINE

Is Helen Thomas on actually Twitter now? We’ll fill you in later on the blog.

Speaking of Twitter- do conservatives have the upper hand on Twitter? Some liberal bloggers say so.

CBS will interview Ezra Klein for the webcast’s “Unplugged, Under 40” segment this weekend- timely for Restaurant Week since among other things, Klein’s a foodie for WaPo online.

CraigsList has added 140 cities.

And Slate has introduced a new news aggregator.

MAGAZINES

Maureen Dowd: Is Anna Wintour human?

WEST WING REPORTAGE

“I have specific instructions from the President for the press corps. He wants you to relax and have a good time. Take some walks on the beaches. Nobody is looking to make any news, so he’s hoping that you guys can enjoy Martha’s Vineyard while we’re there. And the second thing I’ll say is, of course the First Family would very much appreciate if you respect the privacy of the girls while they’re out here on vacation.” -Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, yesterday’s gaggle on Air Force One.

NEWS NOTES

Howard Kurtz in today’s WaPo Media Notes: The debate over health-care reform has severely tested the media’s ability to untangle a complex story. In many ways, news organizations have risen to the occasion; in others they have become agents of distortion. But even when they report the facts, they have had trouble influencing public opinion.

IN MEMORIAM

“He didn’t want to go… He loved it, it was so much a part of him, it was his baby.” -”60 Minutes” executive producer Jeff Fager on Don Hewitt‘s reluctance to give up the job at the age of 81 on yesterday’s “Reliable Sources” on CNN.

“60 Minutes” also paid tribute to Hewitt on last night’s show.

HAT TIPS: mediabistro, TVNewser

JOBS after the jump…

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Good morning FishbowlDC! Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

Above, check out MSNBC’s Chris Matthews‘ appearance on “The Colbert Report.” What know and what we’re reading this Friday morning…

NEWSPAPERS | TV | RADIO | IN MEMORIAM | JOBS

NEWSPAPERS

Boston Globe: Two of the three groups bidding on The Boston Globe made it to the next round and have been invited to a series of onsite meetings at the newspaper in early September. Stephen Taylor leads one group that is planning to visit the Globe around Labor Day. The other group is Platinum Equity.

TV

Bill O’Reilly now vs. Jon Stewart.

RADIO

Susan Page is filling in for Diane Rehm on WAMU while she recovers from a cracked pelvis (h/t DCRTV).

IN MEMORIAM

Remembering Don Hewitt: TVNewser has a collection of Don’s best quotes. Our personal favorite, “There are four words that every child knows: Tell me a story. That’s the secret.”

HAT TIPS: mediabistro, TVNewser

JOBS after the jump…

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Good morning FishbowlDC! Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

Above, Jon Stewart‘s “moment of Zen,” starring CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and kid-journo-genius Damon Weaver. “Why do they call you Wolf… is that because you have a lot of hair on your face?”

After work tonight, join Bloomberg’s Karen Leigh at Stetson’s on U St. for goodbyes before her re-location to Cambodia. What know and what we’re reading this Thursday morning…

TV | NEWS NOTES | IN MEMORIAM | JOBS

TV

Former Fox News anchor E.D. Hill and Meghan McCain will be filling in for Elisabeth Hasselbeck on “The View,” starting in September while Hasselbeck is out on maternity leave.

Variety fills us in on “The Jay Leno Show.” They’ll keep his best-known comedy bits, such as the “Jaywalking” segment, his riffs on headlines and 99¢ Only Store advertisements, which will run in the final quarter-hour of the new NBC series.

The editors of TVNewser read Playboy– for the articles, like this one on “Family Guy” creator and FOX comedy mastermind Seth MacFarlane. “There are things I don’t like about FOX, most notably Fox News, but [Rupert] Murdoch is clearly a shrewd businessman first and a conservative second… He seems to be much more of a critical thinker than the guys he employs at Fox News. If Sean Hannity could think as critically as Rupert, I might like him,” McFarlane said in Playboy.

NEWS NOTES

There’s another hottest list in DC– and it’s not FBDC’s hottest media types! Mediaite takes a look at the “new hottest-on-the-Hill list in town -The 50 Most Fabulous People on the Hill- the brainchild of two wet-behind-the-ears congressional aides, who think that there are some flaws with The Hill‘s list.”

IN MEMORIAM

CBS News has announced that this Sunday “60 Minutes” will devote its entire hour to the news magazine’s creator and former executive producer, Don Hewitt, who passed away yesterday. The “60 Minutes” correspondents are working on individual segments that will tell the story of the legendary newsman’s life, and lasting contributions to the TV news industry.

HAT TIPS: mediabistro, TVNewser

JOBS after the jump…

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Jon Stewart on health care: “Why is this so hard? Why can’t you guys just stay on message? Remember the Bush team? Little bit of discipline, little bit of repetition. They sold us a WAR nobody wanted and nobody needed… Salesmanship! THOSE GUYS could sell ice cubes to Eskimos.”

And after the jump… Tom Delay was on ABC’s “GMA” earlier today to talk “Dancing with the Stars.” “Conservatives can let their hair down and open their collar and put on some dancing shoes and get out there on the floor just like the rest of us,” he said. Video via Politico.

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Right now, President Obama is in the White House briefing room, during the press corps’ daily briefing, to address the comments he made Wednesday on the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. The President said in his prime-time presser that the Cambridge police acted “stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were already in their own home.”

>>MORE: Obama says both the Cambridge officer and Prof. Gates are good people and that his words have added to a “media frenzy.”

Also– the President and Prof. Gates may get together for a beer at the White House. We’ll keep you posted on those plans.

>>UPDATE: Now White House press secretary Robert Gibbs is back at the podium and he jokes that he has “all the confidence in the world” that whatever he says will not make the news now.

And after the jump, because it’s Friday, a clip from the Daily Show, in which Jon Stewart says the President answered “stupidly” Wednesday…

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Good morning FishbowlDC! Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

Happy Birthday to Dan Reilly and Eamon Javers! What we know and what we’re reading this Friday morning…

NEWSPAPERS | TV | ONLINE | WEST WING REPORTAGE | IN MEMORIAM | JOBS

NEWSPAPERS

Is NYT keeping the Boston Globe after all?

The Ann Arbor News has printed its final edition.

TV

VF is torturing its intern with cable news.

Final numbers are in for Wednesday’s Obama news conference (via TVNewser). 24.68M Total Viewers watched on 11 networks. That’s down 14% percent from the 28.81 million who watched Obama’s last newser in April, off 39% from Obama’s second news conference in March, and down 50% from his first primetime newser in February

More numbers for you- there are now more TV sets than people in the US, according to a new Nielsen study.

Politico‘s executive editor Jim VandeHei, publisher Robert Allbritton, editor-in-chief John Harris and senior political correspondent Ben Smith made an appearance on Charlie Rose Tuesday (where was Mike Allen- it could have been a VF reunion).

Tonight, Charlie Gibson hosts a special edition of “20/20″ on ABC- “Over a Barrel: The Truth About Oil.”

Who’s watching Willie Geist‘s 5:30amET MSNBC show? “Drug dealers, hookers, drunks coming home from bars…” Nice.

ONLINE

WebNewser: AP added its name to the list of media companies aggressively seeking to protect their content. The AP board of directors Thursday tasked AP with creating a news registry that will tag and track all AP online content in order to ensure compliance with terms of use.

NEW NOTES

Eekk… NRO asks “Is Nico Pitney Huffington Post’s Jayson Blair?”

WEST WING REPORTAGE

What was the headline from President Obama’s Wednesday prime-time presser? Probably Obama’s answer to the Chicago Sun-Times‘ Lynn Sweet‘s question on the arrest of Harvard Prof. Henry Louis Gates.

Jon Stewart had a field day with President Obama’s pitching skills on the Daily Show. Now Major League Baseball has pulled the video, which it owns, so it can’t be seen in re-runs or online clips.

IN MEMORIAM

AP: Walter Cronkite was remembered as a great journalist, sailor, friend and father during services yesterday. “I just feel so terrible about Walter’s death that I can hardly say anything,” said longtime CBS newsman and 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney.

NYT: Walter Cronkite told his children from time to time that he was “just” a reporter, one who had “just ended up reporting bigger and bigger stories.”

And Howard Kurtz‘s write-up (who we noted yesterday was there with a notepad) of the funeral at WaPo.

HAT TIPS: mediabistro, TVNewser, Politico

JOBS after the jump…

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