Today on the media- bistro.com Morning Media Menu podcast, hosts Jason Boog of GalleyCat and AgencySpy‘s Matt Van Hoven welcomed FishbowlNY editor Amanda Ernst to discuss today’s big media headlines.

The trio talked about two media personalities who died over the weekend: Walter Cronkite and author Frank McCourt. They discussed their work and their legacies, particularly Cronkite’s contribution to broadcast journalism and whether anyone has taken up his mantle. Amanda, Matt and Jason agreed that no current broadcaster has the same kind of authority that Cronkite brought to his work.

They also discussed the news that Amazon.com had deleted unauthorized copies of George Orwell books from Kindle e-readers over the weekend. The news exposes a weakness in the Kindle’s network, and brings up worrisome questions about what sort of information Amazon can access through the devices, including personal and private information about the users. Jason discussed some other devices that rival the Kindle, and promised to provide updates as they become available.

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

As we were watching the Walter Cronkite tribute on CBS this evening, we learned that Frank McCourt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of best-selling autobiography “Angela’s Ashes,” had died at the age of 78.

Reports say the McCourt, who was previously diagnosed with melanoma, died of meningitis.

McCourt was born in Brooklyn and returned to Ireland with his family when he was four years old, a story he retold with humor and ruefulness in “Angela’s Ashes.” McCourt was a former writing teacher (which he chronicled in his two other books “‘Tis” and “Teacher Man”) but didn’t get into book writing until later in his life.

Inspired, we pulled out our copy of “Ashes.” Our favorite part will always be the very beginning:

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.

Above all — we were wet.”

(Photo by David Shankbone)

Legendary broadcaster Walter Cronkite died earlier tonight. He was 92.

Our colleagues at TVNewser have the full report of Cronkite’s death, including statements from staffers at CBS News where Cronkite anchored the Evening News for 19 years, statements from ABC News and NBC’s Brian Williams and a rundown of how cable news covered the news.

When one of our own passes away journalists pay their respects, with lengthy obituaries in print, moments of silence on air and tribute specials. Expect lots of tributes to Cronkite over the next few days.

Cronkite was first reported to be ill in mid-June. He was suffering from cerebrovascular disease and his son Chip told The New York Times that the cause of death was complications of dementia.

Tonight, the New York Press Club honored their former member by urging journalists to “rededicate themselves to the high standards he set.”

Cronkite was best known for his work on the day of President John F. Kennedy‘s assassination and his famous sign off, “And that’s the way it is.” He was a powerful presence in the broadcasting world and, although he will be missed, his contribution to the industry can be felt in every evening network newscast. Now let’s have a moment of silence for Walter Cronkite.

After the jump, a clip of Cronkite announcing JFK’s death.

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TVNewser: Walter Cronkite‘s family set the record straight today with a statement about his health: “In order to dispel false rumors, Walter Cronkite’s family wants it known that he has apparently suffered for some years with cerebrovascular disease and he is not expected to recuperate. He is resting comfortably at home with family, friends, and a wonderful medical team. We thank you for your prayers and good wishes.”

FishbowlDC: Swine flu hits The Washington Post.

Forbes: Fashion mag Elle booked more ad pages than style bible Vogue for the first time in the magazine’s 24-year history.

Boston Herald: More details emerge about <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/magazines/boston_magazine_gets_new_editor_publisher_layoffs_and_furloughs_119598.asp"recent layoffs at Boston magazine, including the fact that the mag’s execs went out for steak after axing several top staffers.

Folio: CMPMedica U.S. ceased print production of monthly magazines Infections in Medicine and the AIDS Reader this week, resulting in the loss of about 30 jobs.

Our sister blog TVNewser has some sad news about 92-year-old former broadcaster Walter Cronkite. According to an unnamed source at Cronkite’s longtime network CBS, Cronkite is “gravely ill” and “the network began updating his obituary more than a week ago.”

Cronkite anchored “CBS Evening News” for 19 years. In 1981 he was forced to retire and Dan Rather was named his successor. Yet Cronkite remained a special correspondent and kept an office at the network.

Cronkite is perhaps most well-known for his sign-off — “And that’s the way it is…”

Update: Boston.com has talked to Cronkite’s assistant Cynthia Dicrocco who said TVNewser’s report is “grossly exaggerated.”

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Yesterday at the Time Politics Summit 2008 we chatted with Frank Rich about the fact the New York Times now allows comments on its op-ed pieces. (A side note: even though Rich has long been ahead of the game in terms of adding in links to his columns, something he initiated on his own, opening up a comments section was apparently not his idea, nor is he responsible for moderating it.) Rich’s Sunday column often tops out at over 500 comments (this week’s piece ‘The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama’ currently has 842). So we wanted to know, was it strange to suddenly be on the receiving end of so many opinions? Rich told us it actually wasn’t that much different than the slew of emails he normally receives each week, except that the responses were now public. And does he manages to read all of them? He doesn’t. (Who has the time? He said.) Rich also noted a phenomenon that anyone who has written for a heavily trafficked and commented-on blog (for example, HuffPo) will probably already have experienced: the comments are rarely about the piece itself, instead commenters tend to use the space as their own platform.

Early during the panel he was moderating, Rich queried panelists Peggy Noonan, Byron York, Josh Marshall, and Jeff Greenfield as to who might be this election year’s Walter Cronkite.

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CBS News chief Sean McManus and Couric last summer during CBS’ ‘dog-and-pony show’ for the media

Coverage of the EP shuffle at the CBS Evening News:

• TVNewser: Rome Hartman was let go as the executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, a CBS insider says.
• AP: “CBS News on Thursday is expected to fire the executive producer of Katie Couric‘s struggling ‘CBS Evening News’ broadcast and appoint former CNN and MSNBC president Rick Kaplan to the job.” … “Many in the industry believed too many people were offering input and there wasn’t a clear sense of who was in charge.”
• NYT: Hartman was told after last night’s newscast.
• CBS News: Kaplan “worked at CBS for a decade early in his career, including a period as an associate producer for the CBS Evening News when Walter Cronkite ruled the airwaves as the ‘most trusted man in America.’” He also was at MSNBC when Couric was at Today.
• Hollywood Reporter: “The network wants a harder-edged, faster-paced newscast than has been seen in the six months since Couric took to the air.”