CNN

John King, along with Arizona State University students playing the parts of Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich, is doing a run-through today ahead of tonight’s GOP debate in Mesa, Arizona. This is the 20th, and likely final primary debate. The first face-off on Fox News last May, also featured four candidates — only one of whom, Ron Paul, is still in the race. The other attendees were Herman Cain, Gary Johnson and Tim Pawlenty.

Tonight’s debate will feature the candidates at a table instead of podiums. Playbook reports CNN last used this set-up for a GOP debate on Jan. 30, 2008, at the Reagan Library. Sitting at the table then were candidates John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Romney and Paul.

The Arizona debate airs on CNN at 8pmET.

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The Washington Examiner profiles Washington DC’s number one sports fan, and he just happens to have a pretty high-profile TV news job as well.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer is already well-known as a lover of the Redskins, Wizards, Caps and Nats, but the Examiner notes that he is also a regular at the NBA All Star Game. This year’s game is being televised by TNT, a sister network to CNN.

Blitzer also shares his thoughts on the Nationals, thoughts that are familiar to this Met fan’s heart:
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CNN has canceled the GOP primary debate slated for March 1, as Mitt Romney and Ron Paul opted not to participate.

“Without full participation of all four candidates, CNN will not move forward with the Super Tuesday debate. However, next week, CNN and the Arizona Republican Party will host all four leading contenders for the GOP nomination. That debate will be held in Mesa, Arizona on February 22 and will be moderated by CNN’s John King” the network said in a statement to Politico’s Dylan Byers.

It is unlikely that all of the debates currently on the schedule will happen, even if multiple candidates hang on going into the Republican National Convention. The next slated debate is March 19, and will be hosted by PBS. debate

CNN and Larry King have decided to end the quarterly specials featuring the former “Larry King Live” host.

King is believed to have nearly two years left on his contract with CNN, and he had two new specials in the pipeline before the decision was made to end them. It isn’t clear whether the agreement means that King is now free to appear on other networks, or whether he is still under contract with CNN.

“We have the greatest respect for Larry and wish him the best of luck with his new endeavors,” said the network in a statement.

“I have nothing but love and respect for CNN, and I’m looking forward to all the wonderful business opportunities that I will now dedicate my full time to,” said King in a statement.

The news was first reported by Joe Flint in the Los Angeles Times, who noted that King’s four-person staff may have to reapply for other jobs at the network. King’s longtime producer Wendy Walker will also be departing the company.

The agreement to end the specials is believed to have been made a number of weeks ago, though King appeared on CNN following the death of singer Whitney Houston this past weekend.

Okay all you overworked, underpaid TV news producers out there, this one’s for you.

A producer for CNN in Atlanta has just scratched her way to one million dollars. The AJC reports Jennifer Hauser of Atlanta won $1 million dollars on a scratch-off lottery ticket.

And get this. This isn’t the first time Hauser has won the Georgia Lottery. In November, she won $100,000 in another instant game.

Janelle Rodriguez has been promoted to vice president of programming for CNN, EVP Ken Jautz announced today.

Rodriguez has been CNN’s director of programming, overseeing the network’s Atlanta-based programs, since 2010. Prior to that, she served as a New York-based executive producer for the network.

“Her drive and passion for the news are  hallmarks of the best of CNN,” Jautz wrote in a memo to staffers announcing the promotion.

Read the full announcement after the jump.

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HLN anchor Nancy Grace is taking heat for some comments she made yesterday on CNN related to the death of Whitney Houston. During a live report outside the Beverly Hilton hotel Monday, Grace was questioning whether someone close to Houston should be held liable for her death. But in making her point wondered: “Who let her slip or pushed her underneath that water?” asked Grace. “Apparently no signs of force or trauma to the body. Who let Whitney Houston go under her water?”

“Might it have been one person? Might it have been multiple people?” said anchor Brooke Baldwin, “All excellent questions.”

But that was Monday. Grace has moved on. And today, still in LALAland, the HLN host turned up on the set of a sitcom.

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Roland Martin may be silenced, for now, by CNN brass. But he’s still going gangbusters on the platform that got him intro trouble last week. Just since Midnight, Martin has Tweeted or Retweeted more than 100 times. The NYT’s David Carr, a rather prolific Tweeter himself, writes about the Martin mess in his Monday media column. Carr says he’s figured out where that line is, so he doesn’t cross it:

[E]ven though I am something of a free speech absolutist, partly because my Twitter bio identifies me as someone who writes about media for The New York Times. When I do post on Twitter, I often look at it through the eyes of my boss and his bosses and ask, is this congruent with the journalistic values of the institution — or, more succinctly, will it create a headache for my employer?

Meanwhile, Politico’s Dylan Byers did some digging and found out what happened when another CNN contributor made some controversial comments last month:

For the record, CNN did stop booking Dana Loesch for two-and-a-half weeks after she made comments championing U.S. Marines for urinating on Taliban soldiers and suggesting that she would have done the same.

During the early coverage of the death of Whitney Houston, around 8:40pmET, CNN entertainment reporter Alan Duke reported that singer Ray J. had discovered Houston’s body in her room at the Beverly Hilton. He sourced the news to a close friend of the hiphop artist. But a few minutes later, after hearing from Ray J.’s publicist, Duke went on the air to report that Ray J. “was nowhere near there when Whitney died.”

Apparently, someone from NBC was listening to Duke’s report because at 9:07, Jinah Kim reported on MSNBC, “sources are reporting Ray J. might have been in the room with her.” Websites followed.

Finally, about a half hour later, around 9:25, Duke came back on the air to report “it was another Ray… It was the bodyguard for Whitney Houston whose first name happens to be Ray who discovered her body,” said Duke. Anchor Don Lemon thanked Duke for clearing it up, adding “When we have these situations in the initial reporting there’s always things coming in.”

Yes. That’s true. But a little more caution in vetting that information can prevent bad reporting on your network, or even others.

On “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this week, host Jimmy Kimmel noticed something odd about CNN’s recent primary programming, and uncovered a heretofore unseen promo for “CNN WTF News,” tagline: “FU, MSNBC.”