The Ticker

• CNN, which has been covering the deteriorating situation in Syria more than either of its cable news competitors, according to TVEyes, is planning a primetime special on Saturday on the matter. “Homs: A City Under Siege,” will run on CNN from 10:30-11PM, and will be narrated by CNN correspondent Nic Robertson, who has spent a lot of time in the country this year.

• CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Atkisson did not attend a controversial award ceremony held by conservative media watchdog group Accuracy in Media at CPAC. CBS News DC bureau chief Chris Isham accepted the award instead, saying that Atkisson was on assignment.

• On “ABC World News Now” this morning, a Valentine’s Day Polka: 

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• “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King will broadcast live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles tomorrow ahead of Sunday’s Grammy Awards. King will also be live Monday for a Grammy wrap-up.
• Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb have taken their show to the Bahamas. The fourth hour of “Today” originated from Atlantis on Paradise Island this morning and will be back tomorrow morning as well.
• MSNBC premiere’s “Semper Fi: Always Faithful,” the story of Marine Corps Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger whose search for the cause of the death of his 9-year-old daughter, led him to contaminated drinking water at his Marine Corps Base. Lawrence O’Donnell hosts the special, Friday Feb. 24 at 10pmET.

• Broadcasting & Cable reports ABC News is considering elevating “Good Morning America” senior executive producer James Goldston to “a more wide-ranging role.” The personnel change has no immediate timeline, according to B&C, but sources expect “GMA” EP Tom Cibrowski to take over for Goldston.
• FBN’s Liz Claman says she got to the anchor desk by demanding it (as the Fox Business mantra goes). “I was getting passed up to be an anchor,” Claman tells Boston.com, “and one day I stormed into my boss’ office, and I made a case to him that I should be an anchor.”
• With the help of Deepak Chopra, Dylan Ratigan has turned over a new leaf, the MSNBC host tells The Hill. “I was the angriest man in cable up to about a year ago,” Ratigan says. “I’ve long since moved to a much happier lifestyle.”

• Jim Acosta has been promoted to national political correspondent for CNN. The suburban DC native has mostly been covering politics since joining CNN in 2007. In 2009, Cuban-American Acosta traveled to Havana where he reported on US-Cuban relations and met his own long-lost relatives. From 2003-2007 Acosta was a correspondent for CBS News. Before that he had stints in local TV news in Knoxville, Dallas and Chicago.

• Maribel Aber is joining CNN Newsource as a correspondent for a new multi-platform financial news service produced in conjunction with CNNMoney.com. From the floor of the NASDAQ, Aber will present “CNN Money Matters” reports for CNN and its affiliates. Earlier in her career Aber was VP of NASDAQ MarketSite overseeing operations at the Times Square studio.

• The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund presents its 2012 Justice in Action Awards to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Wednesday. ABC’s Juju Chang and Sree Sreenivasan of Columbia University will emcee the event. The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi is a special guest. Go here for more information.

• The mayor of New York and the governor of Massachusetts will be on “Meet the Press” tomorrow, ahead of the Super Bowl. Michael Bloomberg and Deval Patrick will be joined by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels on site at Lucas Oil stadium.
• Former “Early Show” anchor and lifelong New York Giants fan and season ticket holder Chris Wragge is in Indianapolis covering the game for WCBS-TV. Wragge tells FishbowlNY, “I made myself available. I said [to management], ‘If you want totally biased coverage, I’m your guy!”
• Former ESPN guy-turned GMA guy Josh Elliott is covering the Super Bowl for ABC News. So far his Twitter dispatches have included a run-in with his former ESPN colleague: “Sitting next to @ErinAndrews, enjoying a seltzer.” He also took in the NFL experience:

 

• FBN reporter Sandra Smith talks to Self magazine about her diet. How does the breakfast enthusiast start her day? “I love granola,” Smith says. “I always keep several different kinds on hand.”
• MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan shares his favorite books with The Week. Among his picks: How by Dov Seidman, Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, and Richard Branson‘s autobiography, Losing My Virginity.
• CNN’s John King discusses the future of the television business with The Spinnaker, the student-run blog at the University of North Florida. “There’s so many ways to get the news when you want it, how you want it, in the form that you want it, that the whole appointment television model is in trouble right now,” King says.

• CNN’s John King will anchor his show this evening from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. King, a W&M alum, has an exclusive interview with former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who will be installed as the university’s chancellor tomorrow.

• FNC’s Jenna Lee is asked 21 questions in New York magazine. Lee describes her job in one sentence: “Read newspapers, read the Internet, read magazines, read blogs, read research, read out loud, read scripts, read the TelePrompTer (and try to make it look like I’m not really reading)…”

• Page Six reports love is in the air — off the air — between MSNBC anchors Lawrence O’Donnell and Tamron Hall. “The duo have kept their relationship low-profile in the studio but have been spotted canoodling at downtown haunts,” writes the Post.

• Ali Wentworth, the comedienne, actress, mother and wife of ABC’s George Stephanopoulos is getting her own Web show on ABC’s parent, Disney. “Daily Shot” will be filmed at the Steph-worth kitchen table and on location, and will provide parents a daily dose of news, celebrity gossip, sports headlines, and more. The show debuts today on Yahoo! Screen.

• For the first time Yahoo! will have a correspondent covering the president. Olivier Knox, a former congressional correspondent for AFP, joins as Yahoo’s first White House Correspondent. While with AFP, Knox got the on-the-scene report of the infamous shoe-throwing incident at former President George W. Bush in 2008.

• Melissa Harris-Perry‘s MSNBC show has a premiere date: Saturday, February 18 from 10-NoonET. MSNBC says the Saturday and Sunday morning show, hosted by the Tulane professor, will feature “penetrating political analysis and humor.”

• ABC News senior producer Dan Arnall has joined Bloomberg TV as EP of news. “Dan’s extensive experience in covering business news and his passion for the beat, along with his creative production skills, will make him a crucial leader of the Bloomberg TV team,” said Bloomberg TV chief Andrew Morse.

• FBN anchor Liz Claman talks to Improper Bostonian. When asked if Fox News is “fair and balanced” she replied: “I’d rather push our fledgling network that’s doing incredibly well, and yes, we’re fair and balanced.”

• Speaking of Fox News, Ad Exchanger has a wonky look at FNC’s ad sales. If you live and breathe CPMs, this one’s for you.

• FNC’ Geraldo Rivera will be in LA next week for the debut of his new 2-hour radio show on KABC. “There is plenty to do out there. Los Angeles stories tend to be nationalized larger than life,” Rivera tells the OC Register.

• Wondering what Vinita Nair has been doing since leaving her co-anchor gig at “ABC World News Now?” Well, for starters, she had a baby this week.

• “Too much idiocy, too much work, too little sleep, and I lost my mind and said what I was thinking,” MSNBCs’ Dylan Ratigan tells the Miami Herald about his mad-as-hell moment last fall. Ratigan wraps up three days of shows from Miami Beach today at 4pmET.