“U.S. government efforts to prosecute leakers by obtaining information from journalists has a chilling effect domestically and sends a terrible message to journalists around the world who are fighting to resist government intrusion,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

On Sunday, the Washington Post reported on an affidavit that described Rosen as “an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator” in a 2010 DOJ investigation into the leak of classified information regarding North Korea. The Justice Department tracked Rosen’s State Department comings and goings through his security badge and also tapped into his personal email and phone records.

Fox News told TVNewser yesterday they will “unequivocally defend [Rosen's] right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.”

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The Department of Justice says that it is unlikely to bring charges against Fox News correspondent James Rosen, who had his email searched by the FBI in relation to a leak investigation.

A warrant was executed against Rosen’s email, accusing him of being a “co-conspirator” to the individual accused of leaking information related to North Korea.

The implication that Rosen was complicit, as well as the apparent breach of a free press, drew a sharply worded critique from Fox News yesterday.

The Washington Post has more on the DOJ decision:

In response to questions about how Rosen was characterized in the affidavit, the Justice Department said in a statement Monday: “Saying that there is probable cause to believe that someone has committed a crime and charging the person with that crime are two different things.”

“No reporter has been charged in this case,” the statement added. “And, at this time we do not anticipate bringing additional charges against anyone.”

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“We are outraged to learn today that James Rosen was named a criminal co-conspirator for simply doing his job as a reporter. In fact, it is downright chilling. We will unequivocally defend his right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.”

Clemente’s statement comes as The New Yorker‘s Ryan Lizza uncovers the full warrant application, which makes it seem as though the FBI is interested in investigating Rosen as much as it is interested in investigating Rosen’s source. Chilling indeed.

On “America Live,” Megyn Kelly revealed that two other Fox News staffers were targeted for investigation by the DOJ on stories unrelated to Rosen’s. Videos after the jump.
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The Washington Post

The AP made waves last week after it was revealed that the DOJ targeted the personal and professional phone lines of hundreds of journalists in an apparent attempt to determine who leaked information.

Rosen’s case is a bit different, because he was targeted specifically and because he was identified as possibly breaking the law, nonetheless, the actions of the DOJ do have a chilling effect on journalists across all media organizations. Even Glenn Greenwald, hardly a fan of Fox News (or U.S. TV news generally), called the move “dangerous.”

PM Update: Fox News executive VP of news editorial Michael Clemente has released a statement with regard to Rosen.

More: Brit Hume appeared on FNC to talk about the incident. Video after the jump.

In the exchange, Rosen used the alias “Leo” to address Kim and called himself “Alex,” an apparent reference to Alexander Butterfield, the man best known for running the secret recording system in the Nixon White House, according to the affidavit.

Rosen instructed Kim to send him coded signals on his Google account, according to a quote from his e-mail in the affidavit: “One asterisk means to contact them, or that previously suggested plans for communication are to proceed as agreed; two asterisks means the opposite…

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“Representative West’s congressional and military experience along with his fearless approach to voicing key issues will provide a valuable point of view to the FOX News lineup,” said executive VP of programming Bill Shine in a statement.

At the moment, West is director of next generation TV programming at PJ Media. More information, after the jump.
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“Who would have thunk it? I should have lasted probably three shows before they fired me,” Hannity joked, adding that he credits Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes with helping him become a cable news star. “I gotta give credit where credit is due and that is with Roger, seeing me personally through the early transition days from radio to TV. In this environment, I don’t think you can make the transition without scrutiny from day one.”

Hannity did face some scrutiny when he first started, including a scathing review from Newsday TV critic Verne Gay. Still, it pales in comparison to what newcomers to the scene face now.

“Ratings wasn’t the end-all at the beginning, it was putting on good programming.” Hannity says. “Now if you are on two days, people are saying, ‘well the show’s a hit,’ or ‘the show’s a failure.’ You really need time to build an audience, to bond with an audience. You have to understand the news cycle aspect to ratings, and a lot of people don’t seem to understand that.”

Time has been on Hannity’s side. “Hannity” consistently wins its timeslot. (Though MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow gave it a run in the demo earlier this year). And as the ratings for Fox News have grown, its impact on society has too. But Hannity downplays his influence on the national conversation.

“I don’t really think of the impact I have on things,” Hannity says. “I take my job seriously, but I really don’t take myself seriously, and everyone that knows me really well knows that.

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“I don’t think that’s going to amount to much,” O’Reilly said of the phone taps. “It looks like they went through the warrant process and they had authorization to look at these records — the Justice Department did. But president Obama, he’s got some problems now. He better start to get control of the situation because there’s a lot of stuff going on.”

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Fox News Channel and anchor Shepard Smith covered it live, culminating with the man running into a field and shooting himself in the head, live on camera. Fox News would go on to profusely apologize for the moment, blaming “severe human error.”

Now, BuzzFeed’s Jessica Testa travels to Arizona to get the story on who that man, Jodon Romero, was, and what happened that day. Testa finds the man’s sister, Nature Romero, and discovers that she watched what happened, live on TV:

About an hour later, she turns on the TV, flipping through channels before landing on Fox. A man is fleeing police after stealing a car from a Denny’s. It happened less than a mile from Jodon’s house.

She waits a few minutes, then dials the non-emergency police line: “I have reason to believe that’s my brother.”

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“Like our name, the logo reflects the rich creative heritage of Twentieth Century Fox and signals the promise of the 21st century and our restless drive toward the future,” wrote News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch in a note to staff. “Ultimately, our new logo celebrates the powerful commitment of you and your colleagues to the excellence and innovation that will propel 21st Century Fox forward.”

They also produced a video for the logo:

21st Century Fox from 21st Century Fox on Vimeo.

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A source inside the courtroom tells TVNewser two detectives escorted a cuffed Muto into the courtroom, sat him on a back bench and about 5 minutes later removed the handcuffs as he moved to the front of the courtroom to hear the judge read out the plea agreement. That part of the proceedings took about 20 minutes.

In April 2012, while still a Fox News employee, Muto began writing stories for Gawker about life inside Fox News. He became known as the Fox News mole. After his identity was revealed, he was fired from Fox.

Muto must pay a $1,000 fine, the $5,000 he earned from Gawker which goes to a good cause, serve 10 days of community service assigned by the court, then 200 hours of community service at a nonprofit organization. He’s also not getting back is laptop taken during an early morning police search. Muto had worked at Fox News for 8 years, most recently as an AP on “O’Reilly Factor.”

He’s since written a book about the experience, which comes out in a few weeks. One of the conditions of the agreement: if he is found to be in possession of any Fox News item, whether it be a key chain or an 80′s era image of Bill O’Reilly, Muto could be sent to jail for a year.

A Fox News spokesperson tells TVNewser, “We are very grateful to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for their dogged pursuit of this case and for obtaining justice in this matter.”

See the plea agreement after the jump…

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The agreement, in which the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has pledged not to file harsher felony charges in exchange for Muto’s guilty plea on lesser offenses, stems from unaired, behind-the-scenes Fox News footage that was published on Gawker last year in posts attributed to the Fox Mole.

Muto was an 8-year Fox News employee — an “O’Reilly Factor” associate producer — who turned on the network, became a “mole” writing stories for Gawker and was subsequently revealed, and fired. He was later charged with a crime. Gawker’s John Cook says Muto will pay a $1,000 fine, forfeit the $5,000 Gawker reportedly paid him, and serve more than 200 hours in community service. Muto’s book, “An Athiest in a Fox Hole” is still set for release in a few weeks.

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Fox News and CNN are planning live coverage of the hearings, with CNN bringing in Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, Wolf Blitzer and Arwa Damon to join the coverage. Fox News will have Bret Baier, Congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel, chief Washington correspondent James Rosen and Fox News contributor and Amb. John Bolton contributing.

Interestingly enough, it is quite likely that the Sunday public affairs shows will be part of the story. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice appeared on the network Sunday shows and argued that the attack was spontaneous and not premeditated. That now appears not to be the case, and some State Department officials say they knew that all along.

Elsewhere, The Washington Post profiles CBS News correspondent Sharyl Atkisson as “a persistent voice of media skepticism on Benghazi.”
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Believe it or not there was a Congressional race last night. The race–largely inconsequential in terms of affecting legislation–nonetheless became national news, as the Democratic candidate, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, is the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, while the Republican candidate was disgraced former Governor Mark Sanford.

It was a close race, but Sanford topped Colbert Busch to take the seat.

According to TVEyes CNN projected the race for Sanford at 8:31, MSNBC called it for Sanford citing the AP at 8:35, while Fox News cited the AP right at 9 PM, as “Hannity” began. Update: FNC did note the victory in a ticker text update at 8:39, citing the AP.

“Hannity” didn’t dwell on the race until midway through the show (when Karl Rove appeared to talk about), only saying at the top that Sanford “easily” topped Colbert, adding later on that she might have had a shot if not for her “goofy, liberal” brother. MSNBC announced the news by referring to Sanford as “scandal-plagued,” and that Colbert Busch faced an “uphill climb” against the former Governor.

Anderson Cooper ended up correcting something he said when he first announced Sanford’s win:

“Earlier I said he resigned as Governor after news broke of his extramarital affair,” Cooper said. “I want to correct that, he did serve out his term.”

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Kelly had met with executives at CNN and ABC News before deciding to stay at FNC.

Update: A Fox News spokeswoman tells TVNewser “We will neither confirm nor deny any contract discussions with Megyn Kelly.”

Last November, TVNewser sat down with Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, where he talked about keeping her in the family:

We’d love her to stay here and be even a bigger star. So I’m not going to go past that. I’d be stunned if she wanted to go any other cable channel. That’s a real dive off a high cliff. If somebody wanted her to host the “Today” show or something, she’d have to look at that I suppose. Nobody’s ever left here and made it and a lot of people who left other places have done really well here.

It is widely believed inside FNC that Kelly is being groomed for a larger role at the channel, either later in the afternoon or in primetime. With Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity signing new deals in the last year, the next primetime contract to expire is that of 10 PM anchor Greta Van Susteren, whose last deal was inked in 2010, though it isn’t clear exactly when it ends.

Shepard Smith‘s contract also expires at the end of the year. Both Smith and Van Susteren have been rock-solid ratings leaders in their respective timeslots over the last few years, so any change would be a big one.

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For TV news bookers, particularly those on the network morning shows, it is a dream come true. The surprising story broke late last night out of Cleveland, as Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were freed, with some help by Charles Ramsey, whose 911 call and interviews spread around the Internet like wildfire.

One morning show source says that “the race is on” to try and book the girls, as well as Ramsey, who may require a seven second delay should he appear in a live interview.

On TV last night, the story played out primarily on CNN, which covered it almost non-stop since it broke in the 8 PM hour. CNN ended up going live until 1 AM covering the story. Fox News first broke in at 9:47 Pm during “Hannity, and continued covering it during the 10 PM hour with “On the Record”, with MSNBC also providing some coverage during “The Last Word,” according to TvEyes.

This morning the story led the morning shows, and is dominating the coverage on cable news.

After the jump, video of an interview with Ramsey conducted by the local ABC affiliate.
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