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Happy Birthday to NBC’s Athena Jones! What we know and what we’re reading this Monday morning…

NEWSPAPERS | TV | ONLINE | BOOKS | NEWS NOTES | REVOLING DOOR | JOBS

NEWSPAPERS

NYT ombudsman addressed David Rohde‘s kidnapping in Saturday’s paper. Clark Hoyt: Had I been in [executive editor Bill] Keller’s shoes, I would have done what he did for [David] Rohde and his companions, even though Keller acknowledged, “I’ll never know for sure whether our silence had any impact whatsoever on David’s fate.”

TV

How Sarah Palin’s news broke on TV this holiday weekend, from TVNewser.

Sunday show ratings: “Meet the Press with David Gregory was #1 again last week and for the second quarter of 2009, but the gap continues to narrow. “Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer” was second in Total Viewers last week while “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” was second in younger viewers.

From TVNewser: Schieffer’s show is up 13% in both Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers compared to last year. “This Week” is up 15% in Total Viewers and up 7% in the demo versus last year. This was the smallest Q2 gap between “This Week and “Meet” since 1998.

Even Admiral Michael Mullen can’t resist the CNN magic wall. On Sunday’s “State of the Union” with John King, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff used the magic wall to describe situations for US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

ONLINE

Dan Abrams‘ “Huffington Post meets Gawker” website Mediaite launched early this morning. Editor-at-large Rachel Sklar did an email interview with Gawker and WaPo‘s Howard Kurtz caught up with Abrams and others involved in today’s Media Notes.

Salon: How blogs changed everything.

BOOKS

Gov. Mark Sanford‘s book on ‘policy beliefs’ has been shelved. From his publisher: “Sentinel has agreed to release Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina from his contract to write a book about fiscal conservatism, which was to be called WITHIN OUR MEANS and was scheduled for publication in March 2010. This is a mutual decision. We wish Governor Sanford the best.” (h/t HuffPost)

NEWS NOTES

You heard Sarah Palin‘s news this weekend. Now Politico reports her attorney threated Saturday to sue mainstream news organizations if they publish “defamatory” stories on whether or not Palin is under federal investigation. Newly launched Mediaite weighs in: “Palin blames the media (again), and everyone comes out a winner.”

HAT TIPS: mediabistro

REVOLVING DOOR and JOBS after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.