From interviewing world leaders to hurling water balloons during a lighthearted segment, Tamron Hall is as at home reporting on the world’s pressing issues as she is doing what “some people would see as fluff.” In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do? interview series, the MSNBC anchor and Today substitute co-host gives her thoughts on objectivity and talks about her infamous on-air ‘throw down’ with Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney over Mitt Romney’s background.

“I just handled a situation that wasn’t best for my audience and my viewers,” Hall recalled. “We were having a conversation and I was asking a legitimate question, and I felt at the time that we were cheating the viewer with what was just political gamesmanship. I’m not here to judge anyone’s opinions, but I would like to have a question answered. So, for me, it was not about admonishing him or creating a moment or trying to be controversial. My job is to ask questions and get to the bottom of the story or the issue at hand, and I felt that we were being unfair to the viewer in having a conversation that was not about the issue at hand.”

Read the full interview in So What Do You Do, Tamron Hall, Anchor of MSNBC’s NewsNation?

Last week was TORTURE! Gene Weingarten, our favorite “humorist” from WaPo was on vacation leaving us with a “Best Of” column. Have no fear! Our Pulitzer Prize-winning Putz is back in action with a new piece. Actually, I SAY that it’s a new column, but Gene is clearly having a hard time getting back in the saddle because he outsources his piece to comedienne Gina Barreca. They spend the entire piece dissecting Mitt Romney’s recent loss in the Presidential election. Months ago, Barreca predicted that women would have a hard time voting for Romney because he creeps them out.

Unlike Gene, Gina is genuinely funny, so I don’t have a real problem with this. But, is Gene really going to collect a paycheck for this piece? The whole thing is material from Barreca. Don’t believe me? The numbers do not lie… Read more

It’s a big deal that POTUS invited Mitt Romney over for lunch at the White House this afternoon. The event is closed to press, so outlets tried to have some fun with the story. HuffPost’s Sam Stein tweeted, “Tomorrow, I will dress up as a waiter/butler and will try to maneuver my way in towards serving Obama/Romney during their lunch.”

Fantasyland…WaPo’s Alexandra Petri imagined what the lunch would have been like if she was there. Imagine lots of awkward banter and nervous laughter from Romney.

Others took the matter more seriously… Read more

There is still plenty of bad blood between The Daily Caller and websites that employ Ben Smith. We’ve devoted plenty of time to the fights between The Daily Caller and Politico, but it seems that they are turning their attention to Buzzfeed.

The Daily Caller’s Jeff Poor called out Buzzfeed’s McKay Coppins in a piece that took on pundits who blamed the conservative media for losing the election for Mitt Romney. Poor opens his piece by saying, “Only in the delusional world of online journalism, a world saturated with narcissists fueled by Twitter followers and TV appearances, could one come to the following conclusion: The “conservative” media lost Mitt Romney the election. That’s the new theory being advanced by one of this bubble’s occupants, BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins.” This all stems from this piece from Coppins.

A snappy Coppins reacted to Poor’s story on Twitter, saying… Read more

Throughout the election it became common knowledge that BuzzFeed‘s McKay Coppins was the Mormon covering the Mitt Romney campaign. Coppins tweeted about being Mormon several times and Politico called him “the Mormon on Mitt’s trail.”

Even so, it was never an issue extensively covered by Coppins. Today, however, he has a lengthy first-person account about his experience covering Romney headlined “A Mormon Reporter On The Romney Bus.”

Coppins writes about Romney aides who were uneasy talking to him simply because, like Romney, he’s a Mormon and the campaign didn’t want it to be a high-profile issue. He says he approached his coverage of Romney knowing how the faith had shaped his world view. Despite Romney’s own obvious avoidance of of discussing his religion, Coppins says Romney’s candidacy has, at least to some degree, demystified it.

Most importantly, Coppins begins and ends the story with personal stories of fellow reporters chatting about the underwear Mormon’s wear… Read more

Tuesday’s election is the culmination of a LOT of hard work from reporters. Many have been on the road for months on end. Barely ever sleeping in their own bed. Not being able to eat a home cooked meal. We get it. It’s a rough schedule to keep up and we thank you for it. Don’t ever say it’s a thankless job. (All that being said, it’s not exactly ditch digging.)

In Tuesday morning’s Politico Playbook, Mike Allen pays tribute to all the hard working journos who have lived the road life and comes across like a Hallmark card…

Read more

No wonder GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney avoids late night talk shows. The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University has a new study out today that reveals that late night talk show hosts hit Mitt more than just about all Democrats combined since the party nominating conventions.

From Aug. 27 to Oct. 3, 2012, the Center analyzed targets of jokes about public figures in the opening monologues of the highest rated late night talk show hosts — Jay Leno, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Fallon.

CMPA Prez Robert Lichter surmised, “Romney is leading in the humor race, but being the biggest joke is a race nobody wants to win.“

Highlights:

• Romney was the butt of 148 jokes in late night talk show monologues, over twice as many as President Obama. Obama finished second with 62 jokes.
• The disparity is greatest seen on David Letterman, who told 44 jokes about Romney and nine about Obama. All four comedians told more jokes  about Romney over Obama.

See how Romney stacks up with the top 10 joke targets after the jump… Read more

If there’s one thing MSNBC host and Tulane professor Melissa Harris-Perry dislikes most about this election, it’s all the talk about the candidates’ style. With headlines like “Mitt Romney Narrows Gaps On Likability And Appearing Presidential,” it’s no wonder the outspoken academic thinks it’s a distraction.

“Whether or not President Obama is cool or whether Mitt Romney is likable, I really do not care,” she told Mediabistro. “I assume that Mitt Romney’s wife loves him and Barack Obama’s wife loves him, and they both can probably tell a funny joke when they want to. I mean, really, who cares about style? Some of our greatest presidents have been absolute dorks, and some of our most horrible presidents have been affable, lovely, engaging human beings. That’s not the business of politics.”

Read more in So What Do You Do, Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC Host and Tulane University Professor?

In the final installment of this week’s Media Beat interview, Frank Rich, New York magazine columnist and executive producer of HBO’s Veep, discusses the meshing of politics and pop culture. Having covered Broadway for years, he says the nonstop spectacles, gaffes and minutiae that become “news” just make his job more fun.

“To watch [President Obama and Mitt Romney] grapple on the one hand with the changes in the news media [and] on one hand with the world of The Voice and American Idol, The Daily Show, and SNL, it’s fascinating,” Rich explained. “But people forget this didn’t used to be the case. It was considered a huge deal when Bill Clinton played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show 20 years ago. It’s a development that’s spiraling; it’s developing. It’s interesting to watch. It’s great theater.”

Watch the full video for Rich’s take on that supposed liberal media bias and to find out what he thinks the “real danger” in today’s news reporting is.

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

Part 1: Veep Executive Producer on DC: ‘Young People Jockeying for Power in Offices that Look Crummy’
Part 2: Frank Rich Compares New York Times and New York Magazine

Gingrich, Molinari and Paxon in happier times. The infant is Susan Ruby, the couple’s child.

Earlier today the Miami Herald reported on an anti-Gingrich conference call set to transpire today between GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, former Rep. Susan Molinari and former Sen. Jim Talent. They describe the relationship between GOP Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich and Romney backer Molinari as complex. The story by Marc Caputo reports that Molinari’s “hatred” for Gingrich dates back more than a decade. He brings up the longtime rumors of Molinari’s husband, former Rep. Bill Paxon, having an affair with FNC Brit Hume‘s son Sandy, who committed suicide in February 1998. At the time, he was a star reporter for The Hill. Hume had written that Paxon was believed to be a threat to Gingrich.

Gawker picked up where the Florida publication left off, questioning whether Gingrich had spilled the beans on the supposed affair — hence Paxon’s sudden disappearance from Congress and Hume’s death. An excerpt:

“The rumor, in brief, is as follows: In the summer of 1997, the Hill’s Sandy Hume—the then-28-year-old son of Fox News’ Brit Hume—broke a blockbuster story about four GOP congressman who plotted, and failed, to overthrow Newt Gingrich as Speaker. One of those men was Bill Paxon, a New York Republican who was married to fellow Congresswoman Susan Molinari. Another of the plotters, Majority Leader Dick Armey, scuttled the coup when he learned that Paxon, and not he, would replace Gingrich. Armey later disavowed the whole attempt and claimed not to have been involved.”

It’s the Washington mystery few dare to discuss in public.