You can go ahead and count Meredith Vieira among those who won’t be buying Top of The Morning, by Brian Stelter. Vieira told The New York Post that she wasn’t interested in reading the book, which highlights all the high school level drama at the Today show and more.

Vieira explained that the subject of the book hit a little too close to home:

I’m over it… I’ve kind of been-there-done-that, and I don’t know what the interest is. I don’t want to get on a high horse, because I understand why people write it. I’m not trying to say he’s [Stelter] wrong to do it, but I look at it and it’s so personal to me. It’s my friends.

And speaking of friends, Vieira is a Matt Lauer fan. “I think what is happening to Matt is really wrong,” she said. Almost as wrong as forcing a coworker out of a job simply because you don’t get along! Almost.

How did an 18-year-old college student in Maryland gain the trust of and get access to TV executives and anchors in New York? “By posting 10 or 15 posts a day meant that the industry knew it was a reliable consistent source,” says Brian Stelter, creator of our sister site TVNewser and now a media reporter for the New York Times and author of the just released book “Top of the Morning.”

As he neared graduation, Stelter had to make a choice: work in TV news, or cover it.

• Part I: Stelter on Being Matt Lauer’s “nemesis”

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter just had his first book — Top of The Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV — absolutely destroyed by The New York Times. In a review of the morning show centric book, Stelter’s subject matter was blasted and his writing style was ridiculed. It was bad.

The first sentence of the review by Ed Bark likens Top of The Morning to “a breakfast made not quite to order,” because it was “Edible? Yes. Fulfilling? Not quite.” Bark also said Stelter filled the book with “overblown prose” which made it “just plain silly.” One sentence was described by Bark as “veritable life imprisonment.” In the end, the best compliment Bark could give Stelter’s book was proclaiming it “fairly engaging.”

You have to wonder if some at the Times were caught off guard by Bark’s eviceration of Top of The Morning. After all, the cover story of the latest New York Times Magazine was a giant excerpt from the book.

It’s a good thing Bark isn’t with the Times, because it would be awkward if he ran into Stelter and a group of Times staffers in the cafeteria. Especially if any of them asked Bark if he had read anything good lately.

Brian Stelter, who launched TVNewser almost 10 years ago, is now a published author. “Top of the Morning,” out today, lays bare a tumultuous year for network morning news shows which saw one anchor pack her bags, another face a serious health issue, a ratings leader fall — and lose a quarter of its audience — and an entirely new show launch.

In his first interview for the book, Stelter tells us about the secrecy behind “Top of the Morning,” the access he got, and what he thinks about being called Matt Lauer‘s nemesis.

• Part II, tomorrow: What happens when Brian Stelter Tweets something he shouldn’t?

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

The drama enveloping the Today show gets another indepth look today, courtesy of an excerpt from Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV, by Matt Lauer’s arch nemesis, Brian Stelter.

In the piece — published by the New York Times — Stelter piles on the current thinking that Lauer and others forced out Ann Curry. In fact, after reading the article, it sounds like the Today show is an absolutely awful place to work.

As Stelter reports, the staffers at Today were all pretty much assholes:

Read more

In a long New York piece, the drama surrounding the Today show is explored. It’s well worth reading, but here’s a quick summary: Matt Lauer‘s day in the sun is officially over.

For awhile now, people have suspected Lauer was the reason that Ann Curry was fired, and this piece does nothing but fan those flames. The Lauer hating is officially in overdrive. Below are just a few highlights:

• Lauer was the reason GMA was gaining on Today, not Curry. An independent study found that the public liked Curry more than Lauer. One anonymous source said Lauer was becoming Bryant Gumbel. Minus the hair, obviously.
• Lauer knew Curry was getting fired and despite probably being able to save her, he didn’t. Like New York explains, that doesn’t make him a “horrible person,” but it certainly won’t gain him any fans.
• Lauer doesn’t like Brian Stelter. This is a huge no-no in New York media. Everyone likes Stelter. What’s not to like? But Lauer “refused to give Stelter an interview, believing he was working hand in glove with Ben Sherwood to tear him down in the press.” Stelter denies this claim, but nevertheless, he’s referred to as Lauer’s “nemesis.” This automatically makes him our nemesis, so we’ll see you by the willow tree, Lauer. Three o’clock sharp. Be ready to rumble fancy news boy.

Those annual lists are upon us once again! Forbes has announced its influential second edition of the 30 Under 30 list, highlighting the biggest stars of tomorrow.

The publication chooses 30 standout people in 15 diverse categories, totaling 450 under 30.

Among the groupings are Art & Style, Hollywood, Media, Sports, and Technology.

The list included some names that already jump off the page, like gold medal gymnast Gabrielle Douglas (17), singers Adele (24) and Bruno Mars (27), and Justin Bieber (18).

Some of today’s titans of industry are recognized, such as Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (28),  Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp (26), and Mashable founder and CEO Pete Cashmore (27).

New York Times television writer Brian Stelter (27) is among the “honorees.” Stelter created our sister site TVNewser.

Having numerous categories, the list, which will be featured in the January 21st issue of Forbes magazine, offers a broad selection of future movers and shakers.

Read more

Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. Gawker’s Fox News Mole Reveals … Nothing [Update], April 11
2. Brian Stelter is New York Media’s Best Boyfriend, April 6
3. Patch Editor Resigns Brian Farnham, April 11
4. Hot 97′s Summer Jam 2012 Set for June 3, April 9
5. New York Times Reporter’s Email Attacking Arthur Sulzberger Leaked, April 10

Keep up-to-date with the latest FishbowlNY news. Click here to sign-up for the FishbowlNY daily newsletter, bringing you our articles each afternoon directly to your inbox.

Attention any New York media person in a relationship: Brian Stelter, media reporter extraordinaire for The New York Times, is setting the bar extremely high. Stelter is currently dating Jamie Shupak, NY1′s traffic reporter and Complex’s dating columnist. In her piece on “skills every guy should possess,” Shupak inadvertently put every media person in a relationship on notice, by revealing that Stelter is basically the best boyfriend ever. “Luckily the guy I’m dating is an all-star at this; he writes me a love letter every single day,” wrote Shupak.

Every single day? That’s insanity, right? Well, being the dedicated journalists that we are, we tweeted to Stelter, asking that he either confirm or deny this outrageous claim. Turns out, it’s true. “Confirm,” wrote Stelter. “If you were dating @JamieShupak, you’d do exactly the same thing.” Shupak then backed him up, explaining, “and FTR: it’s never a ‘hey babe ur hott’ text as one (very amateur) commenter suggested.”

Damn you Stelter. Damn you and your romantic ways. Now everyone has to up their game. Or at least delete that “hi sexxxy, ur eyes are like rainbows made out of puppies” text and come up with something better.

The New York Times and Reuters are reporting that CNN is going to acquire Mashable. Felix Salmon of Reuters said that the deal could be announced tomorrow and the price tag could be a hefty $200 million.

Salmon did add that he “didn’t know” if the rumor about the acquisition was true, and reps for CNN and Mashable declined to comment on the talks to the Times. The paper didn’t take that for an answer though, and did some sleuthing:

There was a social media hint about the potential acquisition early Monday morning when Adam Ostrow, the executive editor of Mashable, ‘liked’ on Facebook Mr. Salmon’s story for Reuters.

Stay tuned (glued?) for more details.

UPDATE:
Brian Stelter of the Times just tweeted that Mashable has denied the timing: “In email to staff, Pete Cashmore says it ‘isn’t true’ that @Mashable ‘will be acquired this week.’ (Doesn’t deny NYT report of talks w/CNN.)”