Reader’s Digest just published a piece titled the “100 Most Trusted People in America” and Tom Hanks took the top spot. This is not surprising. Hanks is perhaps the most boring dude alive. You know those dreams you have where nothing significant happens and you wake up knowing you had a dream so you feel like you should tell someone about it but it’s so vague you end up not saying anything? That’s what hanging out with Hanks is like.

Anyway, Sandra Bullock was number two in the poll. Which uh, see above.

Other highlights:

• Jay Leno was more trusted than David Letterman (were people drunk when they voted?)
• Robin Roberts was the most trusted woman on TV
• Other highly trusted media people include Diane Sawyer, Brian Williams, Katie Couric, Barbara Walters, Anderson Cooper, Oprah Winfrey, George Stephanopoulos, Scott Pelley, Kelly Ripa, Steve Harvey and Savannah Guthrie.
• Judge Judy is more trusted than Matt Lauer.

— DIANE CLEHANE

The hardcore Michael’s regulars weren’t about to let a little thing like the Saint Patrick’s Day parade get in the way of their power lunch today. After a slow start, the dining room filled up nicely with plenty of media mavens and talking heads. The Today show’s Hoda Kotb was among the first to arrive and looked smashing in her emerald floral sheath by Adrienne Papel. “I’m meeting Dan Abrams, but he’s coming from downtown so I hope he makes it,” said Hoda, having made her way through the few thousand extra people clogging up the sidewalks on the East Side.

With Kathie Lee Gifford on vacation this week, Hoda has been enjoying something of a television time warp with her guest co-hosts. On Monday, she was joined by Beverly Hills 90210‘s resident good guy Jason Priestley, Growing Pains‘s Kirk Cameron came by on Tuesday, and his TV dad Alan Thicke was today’s blast from the past. “Tomorrow, Ralph Macchio from The Karate Kid is coming in and Friday it’s Andrew Shue. I’m having a lot of fun.” Turns out Hoda is something of a sitcom aficionado and can easily reel off her TV favorites from days gone by: “I loved Growing Pains, Who’s The Boss, Rhoda, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” We could have talked about iconic TV hits forever, but luckily Dan did make it uptown and lunch went on as planned.

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. This year’s “Kelly Gang” contingent: New York Post‘s media man Keith Kelly with a table full of revelers, including Jim Kelly, Tom Kelly, and Kelly Delaney.

2. George Stephanopoulos and David Anton. I caught George on his way to his table to ask who he thought should take his Sunday morning seat. “I don’t know!” he said with a smile and dashed off before I could get in a follow-up.

3. Margo McNabb Nederlander and another stylish blonde gal we didn’t recognize

4. Hoda Kotb and Dan Abrams

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This year — full of flux and uncertainty about where the media is heading — has resulted in a vast number of job changes and departures across all matter of media companies and publications. In almost every field of journalism, big names have either been fired, promoted, retired, or simply moved on to more lucrative positions. Here, we take a look back at the biggest industry shakeups of 2009.

The Biggest Move in Magazines: Stephen Adler leaving BusinessWeek.
When editor Stephen Adler announced his departure from BusinessWeek this October following the magazine’s sale to Bloomberg LP, he wasn’t just making a statement, he was starting a trend. Soon he was followed by some of his former colleagues, like John Byrne and BusinessWeek‘s president Keith Fox, who decided to stay with magazine’s original parent, McGraw-Hill. (Not to mention all of those who involuntarily left the pub not long after.) It takes a lot of chutzpah to up and quit your editor gig in the middle of this turbulent media landscape, it takes even more to get your coworkers to come with you. Fortunately for Adler, he’s already landed another gig at Thomson Reuters.

Runners Up: Time.com managing editor Josh Tyrangiel comes on board as editor at Businessweek; Marie Claire‘s publisher Susan Plagemann joins Vogue; Nancy Berger Cardone of shuttered Gourmet takes Plagemann’s spot at Marie Claire; Janice Min leaves Us Weekly; Mariette DiChristina becomes Scientific American‘s first female editor-in-chief.

More after the jump

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TVNewser: If George Stephanopoulos takes the job as co-anchor of “Good Morning America,” who should take his post as host of “This Week”?

WebNewser: PBS‘ “NewsHour” has relaunched its Web site.

Politico: In a memo to staffers, New York Times executive editor Bill Keller calls cutback process “excruciating” and confirms that there will be layoffs.

Gawker: Freelancers take note: some media companies, including Time Inc. and NBC Universal, want you to give up a portion of your pay in order to get your payment faster.

Financial Times: Magazine publishers including Time Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith as well as News Corp. are planning to announce their digital publishing joint venture as soon as Monday.

TVNewser: The Washington Post reports that George Stephanopoulos has been offered the co-anchor position on “Good Morning America” to replace Diane Sawyer as she leaves for “World News.”

WWD: In the midst of a recession that has hit the high-end advertising market pretty hard, luxury pub Town & Country has plans to make its content more “exuberant” and “provocative” (read: sexy). Sex sells, but will it help boost ad sales?

Politico: New York Times reporter Peter Baker criticized the addition of reporters from Talking Points Memo and The Huffington Post to the White House reporting pool. “This is really troubling,” Baker told Michael Calderone. “We’re blurring the line between news and punditry even further and opening ourselves to legitimate questions among readers about where the White House press corps gets its information.”

Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Billionaire Jeff Greene is making a bid for New York Times Co.-owned Worcester Telegram & Gazette. He’s now bidding for the Massachusetts paper against a local group led by Polar Beverages CEO Ralph D. Crowley Jr. and Harry T. Whitin, the recently retired editor of the T&G.

Boston Globe: Members of The Boston Globe‘s biggest union have ousted their president, Dan Totten, after finding him guilty of violating union bylaws during a two-day hearing.

The International Center for Journalists announced today that investigative reporter Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker will be awarded the group’s prestigious Founders Award later this year.

Hersh, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for his story exposing the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, will pick up his prize at the ICFJ’s 25th anniversary awards dinner on Nov. 12 in Washington, D.C., hosted by George Stephanopoulos.

International reporters Cao Junwu of China and Chouchou Namegabe Nabintu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo will also be honored at the November dinner with 2009 Knight International Journalism Awards. The organization said Cao, a reporter for Southern Weekend will be recognized for his work covering last year’s Sichuan earthquake and the Shandong flood in 2007. Radio journalist Namegabe is being honored for her work reporting on sexual violence against women.

“Our winners this year are fearless truth-tellers who won’t back down from a tough story, no matter the risks,” said ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan. “These journalists tell important stories that others have shied away from.”

A full release about the Knight International Journalism Award winners after the jump

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FishbowlDC: News Corp. sold the Weekly Standard to Clarity Media Group, which also owns the Washington Examiner.

TVNewser: Chris Matthews hosted the National Father’s Day Committee’s Father of the Year awards luncheon today, honoring basketball coach Michael Krzyzewski, Gen. David Patraeus and ABC‘s George Stephanopoulos.

Politico: The Washington Post has fired White House columnist Dan Froomkin.

World Newser: ABC‘s chief foreign correspondent Jim Sciutto became part of an Iranian Twitter scam.

Editor & Publisher: New York Times executive editor Bill Keller complained about the flack he was getting for reporting from Iran. “Do people in the media crit game really think editors are supposed to be desk jockeys who never go get a sense of the story?…Or is the idea that when a big, exhausting news breaks visiting editors should hole up in the hotel and let the reporters do all the work? Weird,” he said.

TVNewser: Dylan Ratigan will return to the air next month on MSNBC, anchoring the 9-11 am EST spot

FishbowlDC: ABC News announced a YouTube channel, YouTube.com/ABCNEWS, which features breaking news and highlights from shows like “Good Morning America,” and “World News with Charles Gibson,” as well as ABC’s “Quick Fix” webcast

GalleyCat: Amazon debuted its new Kindle DX and made a pitch to students

MediaPost: The Atlantic named former Portfolio executive director Scott Havens to the newly-created position of vice president, digital strategy and operations

Cityfile: Gawker makes a commercial

According to TVNewser it seems all but a certainty that David Gregory is the new Meet the Press host. HuffPo’s Danny Shea got wind of the choice last night, and even though it was mostly denied by everyone involved it now looks like Gregory’s it. If so it’s an interesting choice considering Gregory’s not so spectacular run with his MSNBC show 1600 Pennsylvania Ave (formerly Race for the White House). One wonders if this is just the sort of decision that might turn the George Stephanopoulos – hosted This Week into the Sunday morning go-to (the show just had its best sweeps month ever). Anyway! What say you readers? Are you in favor of Gregory? (The “other” option allows you to enter your own suggestions).

Do You Think David Gregory is a Good Choice for MTP?
( polls)

The HuffPo brunch at the Brown Palace (real name) in downtown Denver is about to begin, that is, if they can solve the mic problems. Also, there is no stage making it hard to see the participants: someone just told George Stephanopoulos to stand up, “it won’t help that much,” he says. Other panelists include Katharine Weymouth, Wili.i.am, George, and Rahm Emmanuel (who just said this is like an old-school synagogue).

It’s a measure of Arianna’s meteoric online rise since the last election that there are currently so many heavy hitters in this room — one wonders who is left to cover the convention. TVNewser is twittering.