25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 231 | MSNBC: 122 | CNN: 119 | HLN: 64

• Primetime: FNC: 311 | MSNBC: 144 | CNN: 124 | HLN: 76

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The Hill released its 2013 “50 Most Beautiful” feature today, and a number of TV news staffers made the list.

Leading the pack was CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who clocked in at number 11. His inclusion actually came up before his program this afternoon.

“Not news,” Tapper quipped to Brooke Baldwin. “I think we can establish that the good people at The Hill are sometimes wearing beer goggles.”

Other TV news notables include ABC News correspondent Claire Shipman, ABC News Digital White House correspondent Mary Bruce, and C-SPAN production assistants (and twins) Sara Zou and Chellie Zou.

• NBC News has promoted Marc Greenstein to VP of creative production for NBC News and MSNBC. Greenstein has been leading creative production for MSNBC, and now adds all of NBC News to his portfolio.

• Fox News is suing research service TVEyes over copyright infringement. The service records TV news programming and makes it searchable by keyword for a fee. Disclosure: TVNewser occasionally uses the service.

• MSNBC is launching a weekly segment called “Presumed Guilty,” focusing on race, criminal justice and policy reform. The series is hosted by “The Cycle” co-host Ari Melber. Watch the first edition below.

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During “America Live” this afternoon, Fox News revisited a controversial interview the network’s religion correspondent, Lauren Green, did over the weekend with author and religious scholar Reza Aslan.

The original interview with Aslan, which was part of a FoxNews.com webcast, generated controversy after BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski wondered if it was “the most embarrassing interview Fox News has ever done.” In the nearly 10-minute interview, Green repeatedly asked Aslan, who is Muslim, why he would write a book about about the founder of Christianity.

Shannon Bream revisited the topic on “America Live” this afternoon in an interview with conservative writer and founder of the Media Research Center Brent Bozell. (The network’s own media critic, Howie Kurtz, has yet to publicly weigh in on Green’s interview.)

Bozell defended Green’s line of questioning and said she has been the target of unfair criticism because “the media can’t stand you folks at Fox.” He went on to dispute several findings in Aslan’s book, calling it “biased” and “one-sided.”

“I’ve never in my life heard an author say that 1,000 books were his reference to doing a book. And while we’re at it, he also said more than once that he had a history degree in religion,” Bozell said. “In fact, he doesn’t. So there are all sorts of holes you can poke in this man’s very very biased and very very one-sided book.”

Aslan — whose book has skyrocketed to the top of the Amazon bestseller list since his Fox News appearance, as our sister site GalleyCat notes — has degrees in Religions from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, according to his online bio.

Today marks 35 years at NBC News for Andrea Mitchell. Mitchell, who joined NBC in 1978 as a general correrspondent, has served as Congressional correspondent, White House correspondent and foreign affairs correspondent, among many other roles, and anchors “Andrea Mitchell Reports” at 1 PM on MSNBC.

At the end of her program today, Mitchell was surprised by a phone call from Tom Brokaw, who called in from his cabin in Montana to wish her well on her anniversary.

“Even in Montana, in a remote cabin where I am sitting right now, that story is reverberating across America,” Brokaw quipped. “Congratulations my friend, I hope that crazy Al [Mitchell's husband, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan] will have a special dinner planned for you this evening.”

Update: Video after the jump.

Mitchell then threw to Tamron Hall, who also wished her well with her production team.

“You are a hero and an inspiration to all of us, especially us ladies, thank you Andrea,” Hall said.

“[S]he is truly a pioneer for women in journalism and has served as a remarkable role model to so many aspiring to follow in her footsteps,” NBCUniversal News Group president Pat Fili-Krushel wrote in an email to staff this afternoon. “We are very fortunate to call Andrea one of our own. I know you will all join me in congratulating her on this milestone in her career.”

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MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts had something of a Bob Beckel moment on his program today. During a discussion on Sydney Leathers, the latest woman to come forward who sexted with New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, Roberts said “This chick is so batshit, oh, excuse me! bat you-know-what.”

A little later on, he would apologize for the offhand comment.

“I do want to apologize that I had the slip of a tongue right there,” Roberts said. “That was not very professional on my part, I do apologize.”

Mediaite pulled the video. WATCH:

30-year CNN veteran Jill Dougherty is leaving the channel at the end of the year. Dougherty, currently CNN’s foreign affairs correspondent, was previously a White House correspondent for the channel, and served as its Moscow bureau chief.

That role was clearly important to Dougherty, as she is leaving ” to plunge full-time into Russian affairs – writing, speaking blogging, teaching and traveling to Russia,” according to an email she sent to DC staffers.

“When we were 13 years old, my twin sister and I walked into our first Russian language class,” Dougherty wrote. “I was hooked from the very first ‘Da.’”

Dougherty has covered the presidencies of Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin in Russia, and George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in the U.S. She has worked for CNN across the globe, in as places as far away as Hong Kong and as close by as Chicago.

Her full email, after the jump.
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Suffice it to say, July was a big news month. The George Zimmerman trial, the Royal Baby, the Asiana crash, an apparent coup in Egypt and the return of Anthony Weiner, all took up hours of time on cable news.

Fox News had the top 13 programs in July in total viewers, and the top four programs in the key adults 25-54 demo. CNN’s Anderson Cooper also held two slots in the top 10 in the demo, with MSNBC’s weekend longform programs holding down the number 10 slot.

“The O’Reilly Factor” was the number one program in cable news in both total and demo viewers, averaging 2.62 million total and 413,000 demo viewers. “The Five” was number two in total viewers and third in the demo, with “Hannity” second in the demo and third in viewers.

CNN’s “AC360″ was the top CNN program in the demo, placing fifth among all programs and averaging 282,000 A25-54. “The Lead with Jake Tapper” was CNN’s number one program in total viewers, averaging 701,000 and placing 15th overall.

MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” led MSNBC in total viewers, placing 14th overall and averaging 781,000 viewers. The program placed 18th overall in the demo, averaging 218,000 viewers. “MSNBC Investigates,” the blanket term for MSNBC longform crime docs, led the channel in the demo, averaging 240,000 A25-54.
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Denzel Washington was on CNN’s “New Day” this morning, promoting his new movie “2 Guns” and an upcoming return to Broadway in “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Washington also talked about his role in “Fences”, which was originally played by James Earl Jones. He then does his best “This is CNN” voice-over, also originated by Jones, saying he’ll be the “backup guy,” for the iconic tagline.

• Sports media legend Steve Bornstein, the former president of ESPN and ABC and current president of NFL Media, will step down next year. Bornstein will be replaced by Brian Rolapp, who has been NFL Media’s COO since 2011. James Andrew Miller has details.

• An Israeli company is launching its own 24-hour cable news channel to compete with Al Jazeera, i24. The channel is hiring hundreds of journalists in an attempt to gain a foothold in the Middle East. The New Yorker has more.

• A CNBC reporter named Robert Frank is being criticized by Asian-America groups for using the phrase “chink in the armor” when referring to Wendi Deng Murdoch, who is Chinese. THR has details.