TVNewser: Aaron Sorkin can do no wrong. So his new HBO drama The Newsroom has to be a sure-fire hit, right? Well, not according to several media critics. ABC’s Jake Tapper for The New Republic calls the show “sadly disappointing.”  Don’t polish those Emmys just yet.

TVSpy: Did you hear the one about the weatherman who lost it on the air? Our friends at TVSpy have the video of the Cleveland meteorologist, less than thrilled with Lebron James, winning his first NBA title with the Heat.

All Twitter: Euro 2012 moves into the quarterfinals and soccer fans around the world can get instant updates on Twitter.

• TVNewser: Jake Tapper told Jimmy Kimmel not to do a bit about dead babies at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Probably a good idea.
• GalleyCat: President Barack Obama has never heard of 50 Shades of Grey. This is what you would call a Good Thing.
• FishbowlLA: The cast of “K-Town,” a YouTube reality show, has been unveiled. Follow them as they try to deal with the insanity that is YouTube comments.

• New York Post: Condé Nast publisher Si Newhouse was present with the Glamour dancers practicing in the company cafeteria for Fashion Week, and was even seen “bobbing his head” to their Lady Gaga routine. Human after all!

• New York Times: Is Mort Zuckerman going to run for senator?

• FishbowlDC: Is Jake Tapper running for D.C. mayor?

• Reuters: Google’s new Buzz platform is already causing some privacy issues that the company needs to address.

If you ever wonder how authors and bloggers do it — that relentless, 24-hour-a-day publicity driving social media quest — you’re not alone. Katty Kay, a BBC journalist and author, is right there with you.

During an interview at mediabistro.com’s eBook Summit, Kay wondered aloud how self-promoting authors, bloggers and other freelance writers survive. Do they write while also having a full-time job to pay the bills? We’ve often wondered the same ourselves, but there seems to be no right answer. Even Kay acknowledged that she was able to write her book, Womenomics, in part because of her full time gig at the BBC.

But beyond an awareness of the challenges of the publishing and journalism world today, Kay did have some good advice for journalists: focus on your own brand through blogs and social networking. Gone is the conventional wisdom that journalists have to write a book in order to extend their credibility and notoriety. Now, it’s all about the blog.

“Journalists with a high profile in Washington have a blog that’s a high profile,” Kay said, citing George Stephanopolous, Jake Tapper and John Dickerson as good examples of this. She also said journalists are now using their blogs as a homebase while working for many different organizations or platforms. “The more places I have to get income from and to have a platform on, the safer life feels.”

VIDEO: Sister blog TVNewser talks with Kay at the eBook Summit about being a foreigner working on a U.S. news broadcast.

Earlier: eBook Summit: Digital Lessons For Journalists, News Organizations

Happy six month anniversary Morning Media Menu podcast! And what’s a birthday without something going horribly wrong?

This morning, TVNewser’s Steve Krakauer and FishbowlNY managing editor Rebecca Fox talk about last night’s Webby Awards, NBC’s Chuck Todd‘s new book about the Obama administration and Rupert Murdoch‘s thoughts about newspapers.

Steve and Rebecca were supposed to be joined by first time guest ABC’s Jake Tapper, but he spoke separately to Steve later today instead. They discussed Obama’s trip to the Middle East, which Tapper just returned from covering. Tapper let Steve in on some of the feelings about the president in the foreign press.

“President Obama and his press secretary Robert Gibbs have expressed a lot of irritation with the foreign press most recently, because they tend to focus on whether perceived slights that perhaps the chancellor of Germany or the president of France or whomever is feeling at that moment and the president and others in the White House tend to push back on that as silly,” Tapper explained. “But it’s not to say that these aren’t real feelings.”

Tapper also talked about covering the White House after the first 100 days, Chuck Todd’s book and working in the press pool. “It’s a very competitive environment, and we all are competing with each other in addition to working side by side with each other,” he said.

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

TVNewser’s Steve Krakauer just posted his recent interview with ABC News’ White House correspondent Jake Tapper. Lots of good stuff in it (he was the first and second “most used” reporter in 2007 and 2008) but here’s what especially caught our attention.

In your first newspaper job, your editor was New York Times media guru David Carr. Can you close us out with a good Carr story from that era?

If you’ve ever met David Carr you know he’s not just a columnist and reporter, he is a force of nature. Even calling him a force of nature does a disservice to him, because there are some very minor hurricanes that are forces of nature and Carr is certainly beyond that.

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Hmm. Looks like Sarah Palin isn’t the only one avoiding the press these days (actually truth be told, Obama isn’t so press friendly either — notwithstanding magazine covers, that is). In fact, turns out just as Palin seems to be warming up ever so slightly to the liberal media elite Joe Biden, everyone’s favorite gaffe-machine, has gone silent (sort of). ABC’s Jake Tapper notes:

The Delaware lawmaker has not fielded questions from supporters since a Sept. 10 rally in Nashua, N.H., at which he said that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., might have been a better vice presidential pick than him.

Shocking that they’re trying to keep him quiet. But also sad. We often think that the fact Joe Biden has managed to retain the ability to speak his mind after thirty odd years in Washington is nothing short of a political miracle. Free Joe Biden! Of course, the fact that this is somehow making Sarah Palin look like the bastion of accessibility is a bit rich.

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