Work in the TV news business long enough and eventually you may have to choose between having a family or having a career.

HLN anchor Kyra Phillips recently sat down with TVNewser managing editor Chris Ariens to talk about how she views the choices she made along her career path and shares one of the frustrations of being a role model for those who want to follow in her footsteps.

Also, be sure to check out our first interview with Phillips.

>Media Beat Part One: Kyra Phillips Talks About the Challenge of Holding on to Viewers After the Jodi Arias Trial is Over

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

Cable network HLN has seen its viewership increase during the Jodi Arias murder trial, but what happens after the verdict is reached?

In this episode of Media Beat, “Raising America” anchor Kyra Phillips tells TVNewser’s managing editor Chris Ariens about the opportunity and the challenge presented by the network’s coverage of the Arias trial. “I want to say to them, ‘OK, I get it. I understand you’re interested in this. OK, we can give you some of that. We can continue to give you that. But also give me a chance to show you another way that we do TV, another way that we do news.”

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

If you felt the tremors in midtown around noon, it’s because 55th and Fifth nearly buckled under the weight of all the star power at Michael’s today. Between the Hollywood A-listers (Bette Midler, Blythe Danner, Kate Capshaw),  Democratic dynamos (Kerry Kennedy, Betsy Gotbaum) and talking heads (Star Jones), I was getting a serious case of whiplash trying to keep track of it all.

Just when I thought the crowd had settled in, I spied Chris Noth sitting alone at the bar, and I just couldn’t resist going over for a quick chat. While Julianna Marguilies‘ errant TV husband on The Good Wife waited for his pal, producer Fred Zollo, to arrive, I got him to weigh in on the show’s headline-making sex scenes. “Network television can’t go where cable does, but I did do a scene where we showed just enough oral sex in a bathroom while cable news played in the background,” Chris told me. How could we forget? “That stuff gets people talking, I guess.” Yup.

This season, while his co-star Archie Panjabi steams up the screen, his character is trying for a shot at redemption and is running for governor. “I have no idea whether or not he wins,” says Chris. The ardent Democrat tells me he has no interest in running for office himself. “I’m not one of those actors. All my skeletons are out of the closet!” He does, however, have a keen interest in who wins this year’s presidential election. “A lady on the subway asked me to take a picture with me, and I told her I would as long she voted Democrat!” When I told Chris I was lunching with Robert Zimmerman,  a Democratic National Committee member from New York and one of the party’s top fundraisers, he perked up. “I have a line I want to give him for President Obama! Can you introduce me?” I was only too happy to oblige.

When I brought Chris over to my table to meet Robert and another smart, savvy Democratic booster, producer Joan Gelman, he told Robert, “I’ve got something for Obama: A half truth is the same as a complete lie, and we’re not even hearing half truths from Romney. You ought to pass this along for the Obama circle for  the debate.” Robert assured Chris he would get his comment to the president’s handlers.  When Chris went off to his own table, Robert said, “They ought to take his advice; he’s got a higher approval rating than both parties.”

Chris Noth and Diane Clehane

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Last night, mediabistro.com kicked off the holiday party season with its own candy cane maritini-soaked shindig. We got to Tribeca Cinemas early, commandeered a big bowl of popcorn and snagged a spot at the bar, where we could get a good view of the party-goers on their way in.

Some of our fellow bloggers were also in attendance, in addition the event’s bubbly hostess, mediabistro.com’s senior editor Donya Blaze (left). TVNewser editors Chris Ariens and Kevin Allocca, as well as GalleyCat editor Jason Boog, were all there, mixing and mingling with the crowd.

TVNewser editor Kevin Allocca, Mediaite.com’s Steve Krakauer and TVNewser’s Chris Ariens

More pictures after the jump

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This morning, we saw that our colleagues over at PRNewser were promising to “axe” the journos (or “hacks”) at the Flacks ‘n’ Hacks party we are jointly hosting on Monday. Well we’re not going to take that lying down! We’re hoping to gather a great group of journalists — who are also very skilled at Guitar Hero — so we can lay the smack down on the PR pros.

Come join FishbowlNY editor Amanda Ernst, TVNewser editor Kevin Allocca and mediabistro.com editorial director Chris Ariens as we challenge PRNewser editors Joe Ciarallo and Team Flack to a Guitar Hero face-off.

And if Guitar Hero (and our presence as hostess) isn’t enough to entice you, there will be drink specials! And at the end of the night, two winners — one hack and one flack — will take home free passes to Mediabistro’s online news media panel next Thursday.

Here are the details:

What: Drinks and conversation

Who: Flacks (PR professionals) & Hacks (Journalists)

When: Monday, July 13, 6:30 to 8:30 pm

Where:
Artica Bar & Grill
384 Third Avenue
b/w 27th & 28th Streets
New York, NY 10016

RSVP here

Today on the mediabistro.com Morning Media Menu podcast, hosts Jason Boog of GalleyCat and AgencySpy‘s Matt Van Hoven were joined by editors from the newly launched media Web site Mediaite.com, Senior Editor Glynnis MacNicol and TV Editor Steve Krakauer.

Steve and Glynnis, the two original co-hosts of mediabistro’s Menu, talked about their new site, particularly it’s unique Power Grid ranking section. They also discussed plans for upcoming events and live-blogging the Michael Jackson memorial yesterday along with TVNewser editors Chris Ariens and Kevin Allocca.

Also discussed: Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s plan to save the media industry and whether New York is the center of the media world.

You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.

TVNewser editor Chris Ariens is live blogging the Memorial of the Century with some help with Mediaite.com editors Rachel Sklar, Steve Krakauer and Glynnis MacNicol and brand new TVNewser editor Kevin Allocca. Check it out here.

As we head in to the long weekend, we have BBQs, fireworks and parties on the brain. So, we interrupt your holiday party planning to let you know: we’re throwing a party a everyone’s invited! Well, almost everyone.

On July 13 we’ll be hosting a Flacks ‘n Hacks party with the WebNewser editors Joe Ciarallo and Jason Chupick and mediabistro.com’s editorial director of content Chris Ariens. Publicists and journalists will mingle at Artica Bar, take advantage of drink specials and battle each other in the ultimate Guitar Hero throwdown. And, you get to meet and hang out with us.

You can RSVP here. Will we see you there?

Today on the Menu: It’s finally here! Today is TVNewser Summit day down at the 92StY Tribeca. And there are still tickets available at the door should you decide to swing by (and a whiskey tasting party to close out the day!).

TVNewser’s Chris Ariens, who is down there early setting up, joined us on location to discuss today’s stellar line-up (find the schedule here). You can follow up-to-the-minute coverage of today’s events at all of the MB blogs as well as Twitter (#TVNewser Summit).

Everybody wants to be a video star these days! And by everybody we mean websites fighting to remain relevant online. Earlier this week Reuters announced it was launching a new video-on-demand service, and this morning on the Menu ABC’s Rick Klein spoke of the network’s push to offer more original online video.

Now CNNMoney “the most-popular source of business-news video on the Web” has revealed they are partnering with Time Inc.’s business magazines and sister cable network CNN and have unveiled eight new online business shows. According to the WSJ CNNMoney devotes about a quarter of its editorial budget to Web video, which “has helped it grab the online-video mantle from Yahoo Inc., AOL and other Internet hubs that long dominated business news online.” Take a look at the line-up after the jump. Meanwhile, our own Chris Ariens paid a visit to the fifth floor newsroom at Time Warner Center where “writers, editors and producers all collaborate providing content across multiple platforms” including the newly launched programs. You can watch his video tour here.

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