The New York Times started a new biweekly video series today, all about street style. The premiere episode profiles Fort Greene, Brooklyn. [h/t]

Separately, the Times has debuted ads to up its thriving digital subscriber numbers. And some of its reporters appear in a video urging the paper to settle a contract dispute with staffers.

Tom Brokaw thinks the White House Correspondents Dinner is too much of a “glittering event.” Fox News’ Ed Henry, who is also the president of the White House Correspondents Association isn’t opposed to change.

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Last night was the premiere of Scandal, the new ABC program about a D.C. crisis expert based on Judy Smith (left), a real D.C. crisis consultant.

On the show, which was created by Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice), Kerry Washington plays the very tough head of a crisis firm that specializes in high-profile problems. In real life, Smith has worked with Michael Vick and Monica Lewinsky, among others. On the show, Washington’s Olivia Pope had to manage a decorated war hero with a big secret and a President (as in the President of the United States) trying to keep allegations of an affair under wraps. But things aren’t what Pope thought they were! Scandalous!

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Disney grand opening, 1955

During a recent expedition to Disneyland, it came to my attention that the grand opening of the park in 1955 was televised live. What?!? Yes, with Art Linkletter as a host, ABC and more than 1,000 journalists covered the story of the theme park’s opening. What an incredible feat of pure PR.

Was Disneyland news? I suppose if there were not many theme parks, it might be news. So when is a grand opening newsworthy? Why is another Apple store, the latest in New York’s Grand Central Station worth covering?

It reminds me of a most upsetting event when I was a newspaper reporter and a grizzled veteran colleague – a guy who drank only scotch – was called upon to cover the opening of a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop on his beat. He threw a tantrum of swearing and slamming things and decrying the doughnut people like the newsroom had never seen. To him, covering an opening was at best fluff and at worst working for the dark side.

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Photo: Evan Agostini/AGOEV, via Associated Press

A new report from the USC Annenberg Center says that most newspapers will be gone in five years. But 239 magazines launched this year, up nearly a quarter from 2010.

Christiane Amanpour is leaving ABC‘s weekly news program This Week, though she is sticking around to contribute six ABC primetime specials per year, make ABC News appearances, and is launching a show on CNN International. George Stephanopoulos will be heading back to This Week, though many wanted to see Jake Tapper fill the job. For now, he’s just the substitute.

NBC is launching NBCLatino.com in 2012. Broadcasting & Cable says it’s the first broadcast network to launch a site that specifically targets Hispanics. CNNenEspanol.com launched in November. And NBC previously launched TheGrio.com, targeting Black audiences.

The NFL deals with Fox, NBC, and CBS will include more content across more platforms.

It was revealed this week that James Murdoch received an email indicating widespread hacking by News of the World reporters back in 2008, seeming to contradict Murdoch’s statements about when he learned of the activity. But he says he didn’t read the whole email chain. Really? [via The Guardian]

Click through for more media moves.

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The bubble has burst. Soap operas, those daytime TV staples, are dying a sad, slow death, with the announcement that All My Children and One Life to Live would be added to the long list of daytime TV shows that have bitten the dust. That leaves the three major networks with just four soap operas between them — General Hospital on ABC; Days of Our Lives on NBC; and The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful on CBS. Typing that made me think about my grandma.

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After what some are calling a “racy” performance on the American Music Awards Sunday night, in which he kissed another man and pushed a man’s head into his crotch, American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert had his appearance on tomorrow’s “Good Morning America” canceled.

Hot to pick up the flavor of the week guest, the CBS “Early Show” added Lambert to tomorrow’s line up. Who will face the bigger PR storm, ABC or Lambert?

“I feel like Adam’s performance was in keeping with other moments from awards shows, and he is being treated very unfairly just because he is gay,” Dowd Agency CEO Jim Dowd told PRNewser today. “It’s a double edged sword to have these other moments [i.e. Britney kissing Madonna] be treated on a different level than his moment just because he happens to be making out with a guy.” Dowd’s clients include MTV, A&E, Animal Planet and IFC.

Another entertainment industry publicist, speaking on the condition of anonymity as to not damage his relationship with GMA, said, “it’s complete crap. CBS can do it and ABC can’t? I can’t imagine the corporate playbook on what’s acceptable on TV is that different [between the two networks]. It’s a total double standard. Most people don’t care about this. This is news, this is really a big deal? 15 million watched and 1,500 people called to complain. That is like .001%. It’s silly.”

Not everyone completely agrees. Hollywood PR vet Howard Bragman, founder of agency Fifteen Minutes, is openly gay and told PRNewser, “I do feel there is a different standard.” However, Bragman was quick to point out that he was at GMA last week with Chaz Bono, the only child of Sonny and Cher, who spoke about his female-to-male gender transition.

“There may be a lot of things but I don’t think homophobic is among them. GMA has always been pretty good,” he said.