The Meet the Press political roundtable discussed the Armstrong Williams case and the broader issues surrounding it this morning. Highlights from the transcript:

"I'll bet that there will be a great market for FOIR, Freedom of Information Requests, in the next couple weeks because I suspect Armstrong Williams is not alone. There have been other people who've been doing this," Al Hunt said.

Andrea Mitchell followed up by criticizing video news releases that are "misleading to the average person who believes that they are news reports. And I think that the lines are so blurred. We have to also take a step back and ask, you know, 'When did the lines become confusing to people, between what a real journalist is and commentary, analysis or political figures being used as commentators?' I mean, that's really the issue because with all due respect to Mr. Williams, he didn't rise through the normal track of journalism..."

This comment from Hunt concluded the discussion: "I think the danger for people in our business is we better think carefully about exactly what we're doing. I think there ought to be full disclosure of people of any kind of outside income and--otherwise, I think our business is really going to suffer a tremendous erosion of credibility." More...

> Also: An e-mailer says this Saturday post "makes it seem like he was primarily a CNN person, which is untrue," an e-mailer says. "He hasn't appeared on MSNBC and FOX 'in the past' -- he has appeared frequently on FOX and MSNBC."

Jeff Jarvis asks: "When is enough coverage too much coverage of a tragedy like the tsunami?...At some point, especially in a disaster such as this, I have to wonder when the hunger for human interest becomes exploitation. Are we there yet? Or have the other networks dropped the ball and CNN is giving this unimaginably large tragedy the proper coverage it deserves?"

> Mickey Kaus' reaction is more blunt: "OK, That's Enough Storytelling!"

Dr. Bob Arnot, former chief foreign correspondent for NBC, was spotted on MSNBC and FNC in the last few days. On Wednesday's Scarborough Country, Arnot discussed sex trafficking in the wake of the tsunami. Following the interview, Arnot flew to Indonesia, and Geraldo interviewed him on Saturday's At Large. Geraldo introduced Arnot as "our friend;" If NBC isn't going to keep Arnot, FNC should hire him...

> Arnot's contract with NBC was up in December 2003; Last February, Joe Hagan reported that it wouldn't be renewed "for the forseeable future."

> Update: 10:45pm: Arnot appeared on At Large with Geraldo Rivera again on Sunday night.

> 11:30pm: "Dr. Bob Arnot was on shaky ground -- at best -- during his final year at nbc news," an insider says. "How can I put this as nicely as possible? There were serious questions about the credibility of his reporting, so much so that the highest powers at NBC news -- from talent to management -- would ONLY allow him to report on MSNBC. In fact, his last title was chief foreign affairs correspondent for MSNBC (No NBC news affiliation). So FNC would probably be pretty dumb to hire him. I think he's trouble -- as do many others in the business."

CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen, on breaking down the emotional "wall" of journalists covering the tsunami disaster:

"You know, I think when you're covering a story like this -- and there are not very many stories like this in the career of any journalist -- that you have got to also listen to your own feelings. Journalists have kind of a built-in wall...and you try not to let the emotions get through. But when you're on something that is this huge and this difficult, you really have to say to yourself, what seeps through is important. You have got to go with it. I also gave some money to a small church, where we were covering a story, because they're taking aid to people who need help. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. My daughters gave money. I'm told that three out of 10 Americans have given money. So we're reacting as people, and I think there is no problem with that, as long as it doesn't taint the kind of reporting that we're doing, especially if we need to make some hard, tough decisions about what we're seeing."

Here are the rest of his comments, from CNN's Reliable Sources...

In the introduction to his new book, Blog, Hugh Hewitt sums up his beliefs about the mainstream media in the following passage. Whether you agree or disagree with it, the point is worth thinking about:

"Few have been damaged by a loss of information consumer trust as CNN. Sitting in the Minneapolis airport waiting for my connecting flight, I listen to CNN practically beg the audience to trust it. In Times Square the week of the Republican National Convention, CNN's banner read "America's Most Trusted Network," as laughable an assertion of American car "quality" in the seventies. The airport show -- with a big audience, as Hurricane Frances was approaching -- was full of single-frame banners shouting out "Resources" and "U.S. Bureaus" and flashing pictures of CNN personalities and dramatic music in the background swelling, all leading to the declaration: 'America's Campaign Headquarters.' This has to reflect the same false bravado masking desperation that gripped the Vatican in Luther's heyday. By contrast, FOX News's soaring viewership numbers -- for the first time at a major party convention, the RNC's this summer past, a cable channel passed the networks for total audience -- reflects the trust of a newly emancipated information consumer. 'Fair and balanced' was home-run branding, bcause it telegraphed to half the nation that thinks Carville is a partisan and Begala a nutcase, Aaron Brown a lightweight and Bill Schneider hopelessly tilted toward the left, that FOX News would not be a wholly owned subsidiary of the DNC. CNN is never going to get back what it threw away when it failed to discipline itself, because Fox moved in and new viewing habits have formed. In fact, even FOX News has to be very vigilant about its people. Had Carl Cameron not broken the John Kerry not-in-Cambodia-on-Christmas-Eve-1968 story, FOX News would have risked its standing with its audience, wired as that audience was to the blogosphere's hunt for the details and for its complete vindication to the Swifties' claims on this point."

> Update: 4:38pm: "Hugh Hewitt is a partisan right-wing neo-conservative and you note that nowhere in your story," an e-mailer says.

> Update: 11:43pm: "CNN's 'Most Trusted Name in News' is based on years of Pew surveys that find that that is the case -- more trusted than any other name in television, print, or any other news medium," an e-mailer points out. "It's not begging at all." Also, from Steve: "I [have] to write to point out Bill Schneider is a senior fellow at AEI (American Enterprise Institute), the think-tank Bill Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and virtually the entire neo-con gentry call home." For the record, I don't agree with the excerpt printed above...

Hugh Hewitt's new book on blogging is worth the purchase, but disappointing for a couple of reasons: Too often he uses a broad brush to describe "most bloggers," and he barely explores the blogosphere outside politics and religion. But I was particularly frustrated by this sentence on page 40, referring to Rathergate:

"On September 10, during the height of the controversy, bloggers had been dismissed by an ex-CBS big, Jonathan Stein, as just 'guys in pajamas.'"

After mangling Jonathan Klein's name, Hewitt proceeds to talk about the Pajamahadeen, then says:

"Turning an attack back on the attacker was the defining moment of episode for the blogosphere's future. Only fools will try that gambit in the years ahead, and Mr. Stein's place in the history of journalism is right up there with the fellows who served up Ruth's, Aaron's, and Bond's record-setting swings."

Before bashing a guy, shouldn't you spell his name right? A simple Google search would have picked up on the mistake. Klein's point in the infamous quote was about the stark "contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances" of the MSM versus bloggers. In this instance, Hewitt could have used multiple layers of checks before publishing...

"Fox's entire success is an expansion of 'Crossfire.'"

That's what an MSNBC producer tells the Chicago Tribune today. John Cook says "the public 'Crossfire'-bashing is part of Klein's effort to redefine CNN, in contrast to MSNBC and Fox, as a place for hard news and compelling stories."

"We're looking overall at political coverage," Klein says. "I wanted to create opportunities on the schedule, and this just felt like a good opportunity to swing a window open and let some fresh air in."

(Meanwhile, co-host James Carville says: "I like sniping. I like arguing. I don't even mind a little shouting. In a sense I'm honored that so much of the blame for what's wrong with America can be heaped on us.")

The CNN program Reliable Sources discussed CNN's plan to cut Crossfire this morning, and the show didn't go easy on its boss. Today's critical look at CNN -- on CNN's air -- was good to see.

"I think [Crossfire is] great brand name," Newsday critic Verne Gay said. I think it's a nutty decision to cancel it. It could be made into great television." (He's right on the money.) But syndicated columnist Steve Roberts disagreed. He appeared on Crossfire once: "It was awful. Everybody was yelling at me the whole time. I walked off the set and said 'don't call me again.' They said 'you were great...'"

"Should Klein has sided with Jon Stewart over his own employees?," Howard Kurtz asked. "Maybe it wasn't good for morale for his employees, but it was exactly right for the substance," Roberts responded.

> The latest Paula Zahn rumor overheard in the halls of CNN NY: Perhaps 'Now' will turn into a magazine show...

> Salon analyzes Amber Frey's media blitz: "On camera, she just looks empty. Unlike most of the made-over, sound-bite-friendly, camera-ready faux celebrities paraded in front of us, Amber offers us the polar opposite of movie-star charm: She has not even the slightest hint of a personality..."

> This morning's Fox scare tactic: "Could Iraqi terrorists attack in the U.S.?"

> FNC will air a special O'Reilly Factor (hosted by Tony Snow) at 8pm focusing on the tsunami, followed by a two-hour At Large with Geraldo Rivera, focusing on the Iraqi elections.