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There has been a lot of talk this week about Mark Halperin and John Heilemann‘s book Game Change this week, and what Sen. Harry Reid may or may not have said about Barack Obama.

In a video interview with the authors, Time magazine executive editor Rick Stengel gets to the bottom of the story and learns how and why Reid encouraged Obama to run for president.

Alan Meckler, CEO of mediabistro.com’s parent company WebMediaBrands, may be all doom and gloom as the Ghost of Christmas Future, but Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby still wants to wish happy holidays to you and yours. And as we head into a new year and a new decade, we’re hoping 2010 won’t suck as much as 2009.

And may we offer some advice to those wanting to get into the media in the coming year? Check out our job listings before you do anything extreme.

Wishing you a peaceful holiday season and a very happy, creative and productive New Year, from FishbowlNY and the whole Mediabistro.com family!

When union negotiations with NBC stalled earlier this week, members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians threatened to pull the plug for the network’s biggest holiday event: the lighting of the tree in Rockefeller Center.

But at the last minute, the union decided to rescind its warning and go on with the broadcast despite NBC’s failure to negotiate, as a “gesture of goodwill,” according to Local 11 president Ed McEwan. Then again, maybe the NABET-CWA realized if they went on strike during the biggest Christmas spectacle on television, it wouldn’t be NBC that looked Grinchy.

Press release and statement from the union, after the jump.

Previously: Union Threatens To Darken Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting Over Negotiations With NBC

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Last Wednesday Tina Brown and The Daily Beast hosted a round-table discussion with James Carville, Christopher Buckley, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski about the way this year’s electoral climate was influenced by issues such as emerging technologies, health care, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and of course, Glenn Beck.

Favorite part: Christopher Buckley denouncing the 24-hour news cycle and our faster means of communication by creating a hypothetical WW2 scenario where a CNN “asshole” comments on the Normandy invasion.

Forget about how emerging media shaped this election in a way that hasn’t been seen since the first televised Nixon/Kennedy debates, think of what a mess Vietnam would have been if our troops had access to Twitter.

GalleyCat contributor Jeff Rivera has a new beat, meeting with stars around New York City to chat about their work and their lives in the city for FishbowlNY. He recently met with actress Reshma Shetty, who stars as Divya Katdare in the summer television sensation “Royal Pains,” at New York’s West African-French fusion restaurant Zereoue.

Shetty talks about her work as an actress of Indian descent, and how her role on “Royal Pains” has given her the opportunity to show an American audience a character with a different type of ethnicity. She said working as one of the few Indian actress on television gives her “a hope for the future.”

Related: Dine For A Cause (At Zereoue)

Last week, after mediabistro.com’s panel about business models for online media, we caught up with “rogue blogger chick” Maegan Carberry and asked her to tell us just how she does what she does. Her advice on how to make a living as a blogger is above. It may look like Maegan is telling a ghost story — the lighting was pretty awful — but what’s she’s saying is informative, not scary!

“What’s most important for you to understand is what role your blog plays in the written universe,” Maegan said. “If you don’t have a clear perspective about what you offer, you’re not going to succeed.”

More insight from Maegan and what earns her the most money out of all her projects, after the jump.

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Video 1: In which, Laurel introduces herself to strange men at the party.

I attended the party to kick off the TVNewser summit Tuesday night. For those of you not in the know, the Summit (which happens March 10th. Still time to register!) isn’t just about all the pretty anchors. It’s about new TV news tech tools and ways to monetize digitally.

There were over 200 people RSVP’d and about 80 people showed up at the kick-off party in Tribeca Cinemas, from producers (NBC, FOX) to bookers to strategists. I went around the room and asked folks what they wanted to see covered at the Summit. And if we are able to touch upon half their questions and concerns, this Summit is going to kick butt!

Here’s a little more video, to catch you up on the flavor of the evening.

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The 2008 election might be remembered as the first one in history that was won and lost through online video. From will.i.am‘s brilliant “Yes We Can” clip supporting Barack Obama to the Wassup 2008 vid — viewed over 3 million times in little more than a week — never have videos been so prevalent in the campaign cycle. (It is certainly the first election where a presidential candidate had a dance-off with Ellen.)

Silicon Alley Insider‘s Nicholas Carlson put together a list of the 10 video clips that altered the race, including the two mentioned above and other hits from the campaign trail.

A video tour of Outside‘s office in Santa Fe, led by editor (and mediabistro.com interview subject) Chris Keyes.

At yesterday’s opening of the 2008 American Magazine Conference, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi went on (and on and on) about her visions of the bailout in response to question from Christy Hefner.