We've held off posting this story today, mostly because we don't usually report on the news of local news. But we've heard from you today, so here goes. If you haven't heard about it, Sue Simmons a 28-year veteran anchor at WNBC dropped the F bomb last night during a prime time promo for News4 New York at 11 (might be NSFW, unless your boss uses the F word a lot, in that case, it's entirely SFW):



At the end of the first block of the broadcast, Simmons said, "We need to acknowledge an unfortunate mistake that I made in one of the teases we bring to you before this program. While we were live just after 10 O'Clock, I said a word that many people find offensive. I'm truly sorry, it was a mistake on my part and I sincerely apologize."

This has been a week of natural disaster news for the networks, first the cyclone in Myanmar, then tornadoes in the central and southeastern U.S., yesterday's earthquake in China and now brush fires in Florida. The toughest story to cover, however, has been the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis because Myanmar's military junta government is not granting visas for foreign journalists.

But that hasn't stopped some networks from sending in reporters. An ABC reporter managed to reach the Irrawaddy Delta area yesterday. ABC obscured her face to keep her from being kicked out of the country, or worse, jailed. Her reporting was included in a Terry McCarthy story on the World News Webcast, and she had a standalone story on the broadcast.

Meanwhile, after Dan Rivers' great escape from Myanmar late last week, CNN sent in another reporter, but is keeping their identity secret. A network spokesperson tells TVNewser, "This is an important story that CNN will continue to cover from Myanmar. The decision was taken for security reasons, which we do not discuss. We will review the situation as the story develops."

FNC's Shepard Smith returned to Ole Miss yesterday to deliver the commencement address. The focus of his speech "10 seconds"

Smith said, "On a normal day, 10 seconds later, a loved one can drop to a knee and say those words you so wanted to hear, but now you can't believe it's happening. On a normal day, 10 seconds later, the phone can ring and that job is there halfway across the country. Ten seconds later, Tyree can catch a pass between his hand and his helmet — the great escape can happen, and our guy can be the Super Bowl MVP."

Smith majored in journalism at the Oxford, MS university but left a few credits short of graduation requirements.

Also giving commencement addresses this weekend, Hoda Kotb at Virginia Tech, Chris Matthews at Old Dominion, John Quinones at St. Mary's (San Antonio), Cokie Robin Roberts at Miami of Ohio, and Bob Woodruff at Syracuse.

As you head out for the weekend, we leave you with this (from here):

Two in the News Corp. Family:

• Marketwatch's Jon Friedman continues his month of Friday biz journalist profiles, with today's focus on FBN's Alexis Glick. "Her energy level never abates, whether she's conducting an interview, assessing economic data or analyzing the big deal du jour," he writes. "No news is mundane to her."

Freidman writes about Glick's enjoyment of her current job at FBN and covering business news in general. "Let's be real," Glick said. "I have one of the coolest jobs on the planet."

• War Stories host Oliver North is profiled by Pat Sherman of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The FNC anchor says of his current persona: "All they know is that I was a Marine who served in the Vietnam War and I've got a TV show on Fox."

North's his new book, "American Heroes," has a focus on Iran, an issue he sees coming to the forefront. "There's a lot of discontent, particularly among the young people," he said. "My ultimate prayer is that they do not acquire a nuclear weapon, or weapons."

• And there's one more! TV Guide's Stephen Battaglio has a Q&A with FNC anchor Bill Hemmer. A major topic — the Bill Board. It's a giant walking, moving, breathing iPhone," he says. "I think it's a whole new universe that television is about to explore."

He also talks about waiting his turn after joining FNC: "When I joined Fox there was no room at the inn. We were No. 1 across the board in households and demos. There was no wiggle room. I think we've seen now that opportunity to put all the resources of Fox News Channel together and to do it in that 5 o'clock program."

FishbowlNY's Glynnis MacNicol was all over the Time 100 Gala last night at Time Warner Center's Jazz at Lincoln Center. Among the boldfacers in attendance, Brian Williams, Bill O'Reilly, Suze Orman, Charlie Rose, Mika Brzezinski, and probably a bunch of others. Drop us a line if you were there.

An insider asks: "Which newser didn't make it in for the show this morning after a late night at the Gala?"

> More coverage from the mediabistro.com Morning Newsfeed...

As the tornado threat in Mississippi and Alabama becomes the story of the day, the networks have spent significant time at the weather map:

Uh Oh. Star Jones has put away the Reynolds wrap and now she's coming out, guns blazin,' against her former couch-mate, Barbara Walters.

In an interview yesterday as she left a tennis workout, Jones told Us Magazine, "It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters in the sunset of her life is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book. It speaks to her true character."

While promoting Audition on The Oprah Winfrey show yesterday, Walters said she had to lie on The View about how Jones dropped 160 pounds in 2003. At the time, Jones did not want to reveal that it was due to gastric bypass surgery. So Walters told the audience Jones lost the weight by doing pilates and eating right. Star "decided she would tell nobody, and we had to then lie on the set every day," Walters told Winfrey.

This month's The Advocate features a cover story about former CNN Headline News and The Insider anchor, Thomas Roberts. Roberts was outed by a blog when he was an anchor at CNN in 2006, but has since openly discussed the issue. "If people don't like that I'm gay or that I talk about being gay, I'm sorry. Because that's not my problem," he tells The Advocate's Sean Kennedy.

When Roberts left CNN a year ago, he ended up at The Insider. Despite being out, there was a reluctance from his employer to let him talk about it. "When I first inquired about an interview with Roberts before he started at The Insider, a spokesperson for the show instantly said no. When I followed up two months later, it was no dice again," writes Kennedy. "Roberts says he doesn't recall being contacted either time."

Tom Brokaw is asked in the article about whether there's a reason why there can't be an openly gay anchor. "No," he says. "I've been saying that for years, by the way."

The article discusses those in the industry who are currently out — and those who aren't. "I think everybody's looking for somebody else to do something. Well, it's just you. All it takes is you," says Roberts.

NPR's Alison Stewart and MSNBC's Bill Wolff announce their newest project, in the vicinity of Bryant Park: he is Isaac Stewart Wolff. Details below in an email sent out to the staff of Stewart's Bryant Park Project.

----- Original Message -----

From: Sharon Hoffman

To: News-All Staff

Sent: Mon May 05 19:49:08 2008

Subject: Ladies and gentlemen...

...Introducing the very first Bryant Park baby.

Alison Stewart and Bill Wolff are the extremely proud parents of the world's newest Cardinals fan, 8 lb-6 oz Isaac Stewart Wolff.

Everyone's healthy and happy.

Wolff, a St. Louis native, is a VP at MSNBC. Wolff and Stewart met when Stewart was an anchor at the network.