Original: An excerpt in the New York Times from a new book by Jonathan Alter on the 2012 Presidential election features quite the tale about Fox News, and CEO Roger Ailes.

The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies, recalls one day last November when Geraldo Rivera was on “Fox & Friends” to talk about Benghazi. While the three hosts were very critical of the administration, Rivera defended it.

“After the argument continued for several minutes, Ailes called the control room and told the producers to cut Rivera’s mic,” Mr. Alter writes.

It is a bold statement, although Alter does not explain the source of the story. A video of the segment (h/t Johnny $) has been on the Fox News site since it happened, and does not appear to show a mic getting cut.

All in all, it was a seven minute segment, which in the world of cable news is an eternity. It is possible that a call was made, although it certainly did not appear to manifest itself onscreen. Update: the full video has a moment that sounds like Rivera’s mic may have been cut, though he insists that it was not. Judge for yourself.

Mediaite’s Andrew Kirell has more details on the incident, which seem to be more plausible than the one out forth by the book.

WATCH:
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The DailyBeast’s David Freedlander singles out NBC’s “Today” for its early coverage “A large part of the strength of the early morning for the network Friday was Savannah Guthrie, who logged seven hours in the anchor’s chair while co-host Matt Lauer was in Texas reporting on the fertilizer explosion.”

Chicago Sun-Times‘ Lori Rackl writes: “No network made it to the finish line without tipping over at least a few hurdles. But CNN showed us it needs to get in shape, fast.”

In The New Yorker Andy Borowitz has his own unique take on the reporting — and misreporting — througought the week.

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Talkers

Rush Limbaugh may be number one, but Fox News’ Sean Hannity was number two, and former FNCer Glenn Beck was number four. MSNBC’s Ed Schultz came in at number six, while Current TV’s Stephanie Miller held the number 12 slot and Alan Colmes was at 16.

Other TV news personalities on the list include Andrea Tantaros (24), Don Imus (35), Mike Huckabee (46), Herman Cain (59), Geraldo Rivera (62), Tom Sullivan (65) and Al Sharpton (90).

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• Geraldo Rivera may not be the only Fox News contributor eyeing a Senate run. Raw Story reports that Dr. Keith Ablow, FNC’s favorite psychiatrist, says that he would be glad to run for the vacant seat in Massachusetts if no other Republicans challenge him in a primary.

• Uproxx finds a classic video of CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite previewing the “home of the 21st century.” Wouldn’t you know it, he wasn’t that far off in his predictions! WATCH…

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If elected I would propose a bill to makeSuper-Monday a national, no school, no work holiday/day of community service

— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) February 4, 2013

Yes, it is a bit hard to believe that the Fox News anchor is serious about running for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, but as the New York Times‘ Brian Stelter reports, FNC is taking his situation seriously:
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At times he sounded like a stump speech, as Steve Doocy noted.

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“I mention this only briefly, fasten your seatbelt,” Rivera said. “I am and I’ve been in touch with some people in the Republican Party in New Jersey. I am truly contemplating running for Senate against Frank Lautenberg or Cory Booker in New Jersey.”

He did note that he has contractual obligations to FNC and his radio syndicator, but that a run was worth looking into:

“I’m not going to drill this out, because obviously I’ve got commitments to Fox and to here at the radio program and I’m really having a great time,” he said. “But I figure at my age, if I’m going to do it I’ve got to do it.

Rivera anchors a weekend program on Fox News, and is also a correspondent for the network. He joined the channel in 2001.

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• Total day: FNC: 151 | MSNBC: 141 | CNN: 121 | HLN: 103

• Primetime: FNC: 119 | MSNBC: 159 | CNN: 127 | HLN: 99

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The year was 2006, and Gore and comedian Al Franken (who is new Senator Franken) were in the lobby of the News Corp, building in New York. Rivera knew Gore, and had interviewed him in his prior jobs.

“I run into the vice president with Al Franken by his side, and he looks me up and down and said, ‘look where you ended up.’ As if to say to me, my goodness how could you possibly sell out to go work here for Fox News,” Rivera recalled. “And I said I am still the same guy, and the Vice President says to me in a very tsk tsk condescending way, ‘I guess you will never bite the hands that feeds you.’”

WATCH:

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

• Total day: FNC: 142 | MSNBC: 158 | CNN: 112 | HLN: 121

• Primetime: FNC: 147 | MSNBC: 188 | CNN: 93 | HLN: 99

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On ABC, weekday anchor George Stephanopoulos will anchor “Good Morning America” from Newtown. Elizabeth Vargas will join him from New York. ABC’s Josh Elliott, Amy Robach and Dan Harris will report from the scene in Newtown.

NBC’s “Today” will also have the weekday team in, with Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie anchoring from Newtown. Lester Holt, Erica Hill, Ann Curry and Willie Geist will contribute to the program.

Anthony Mason and Rebecca Jarvis will anchor “CBS This Morning Saturday” from Newtown. CBS will also preempt “48 Hours” Saturday night for a special report on the shooting at 10pmET.

Fox News will be live at 5amET with “Fox & Friends First.” An expanded edition of “Fox & Friends” will air from 6-10amET, and will be simulcast on FBN. The 10am-noon business block will be preempted for live coverage anchored by Jon Scott and Jenna Lee. Scott will also host an expanded two-hour “Fox Report” beginning at 6pmET. Mike Huckabee‘s program will be live from NYC at 8pmET and Jeanine Pirro and Geraldo Rivera will host their primetime shows from Newtown.

MSNBC will focus on the shooting during regularly-scheduled programming and will be live until at least 7pmET Saturday night.

On CNN, Ali Velshi and Jon Berman will anchor from 6-9amET. Soledad O’Brien will anchor from 9-11amET, Wolf Blitzer will anchor from 11am-1pmET and Don Lemon will anchor from 1-3pmET. O’Brien will anchor from 3-5pmET, and Blitzer and Kate Bolduan will anchor from 5-8pmET. Anderson Cooper will anchor from 8-9pmET,  Lemon and O’Brien will anchor from 9-10pmET, and Cooper will take over again from 10-11pmET.

On HLN, Nancy Grace will host a special on the shooting tonight at 8pmET. Dr. Drew Pinsky will host a special live hour at 9pmET.

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• Total day: FNC: 124 | MSNBC: 133 | CNN: 95 | HLN: 120

• Primetime: FNC: 103 | MSNBC: 220 | CNN: 95 | HLN: 124

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
FNC	NewsHQ:	FNSunday:	Report:	Huckabee:	FoxFiles:	FNR:	Huckabee:	FoxFiles:
	86	57	62	83	76	150	83	56
MSNBC	Caught:	Caught:	Caught:	Caught:	Drama:	Predator:	Lockup:	Lockup:
	104	163	194	242	131	287	183	172
CNN	Newsroom:	Newsroom:	Newsroom:	Presents:	Mumbai:	Newsroom:	Presents:	Mumbai:
	45	46	71	99	87	98	79	174
HLN	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:
	101	192	163	76	108	188	64	109

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• Total day: FNC: 156 | MSNBC: 169 | CNN: 114 | HLN: 108

• Primetime: FNC: 101 | MSNBC: 308 | CNN: 119 | HLN: 97

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
Fox News	NewsHQ:	NewsHQ:	Report:	Huckabee:	Pirro:	FoxFiles:	JER/Watch:	Pirro:
	118	181	161	124	78	103	64	69
MSNBC	Squeeze:	Squeeze:	Squeeze:	Lockup:	Lockup:	Lockup:	Lockup:	Lockup:
	68	96	159	255	318	350	321	353
CNN	Newsroom:	Situation:	Newsroom:	Gupta:	Morgan:	Newsroom:	Gupta:	Morgan:
	110	88	107	129	115	114	82	70
HLN	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:
	100	116	101	126	89	75	65	140

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• Tonight on Fox News’s Mike Huckabee hosts a live edition of his show from battleground Ohio with the election now three days away. Later, Geraldo Rivera takes his show to Staten Island in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. “Huckabee” airs at 8pmET and “Geraldo At Large” airs at 10pmET.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

• Total day: FNC: 232 | MSNBC: 150 | CNN: 104 | HLN: 129

• Primetime: FNC: 237 | MSNBC: 164 | CNN: 123 | HLN: 90

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
FNC	NewsHQ:	FNSunday:	Report:	Huckabee:	Pirro:	Geraldo:	Huckabee:	Pirro:
	170	179	254	258	217	237	185	246
MSNBC	Caught:	Caught:	Caught:	Caught:	Slaves:	Slaves:	Lockup:	Lockup:
	173	155	199	213	152	128	218	261
CNN	Newsroom:	Newsroom:	Newsroom:	Concordia:	Morgan:	Newsroom:	Concordia:	Morgan:
	82	101	85	90	101	177	146	112
HLN	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:
	85	76	75	83	94	93	116	107

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