• AllTwitter reports the man who Tweeted inaccurate information about Hurricane Sandy as the storm washed ashore, including that the NYSE had flooded which was then reported by CNN, has been outed as Shashank Tripathia, a hedge fund analyst who tweets under @ComfortablySmug.
• After a delay of almost a week due to the hurricane, NBC has opened Democracy Plaza. In addition to the previously announced exhibits, a historic, rare copy of the Declaration of Independence will be on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art store in Rockefeller Plaza.
• On Election Night, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski won’t be on MSNBC, instead the’ll be hosting a webcast from Manhattan’s 92Y. “Morning Joe” regulars Jon Meacham, Mike Barnicle, and Steve Rattner will take part in the panel discussion. Go here for more info.

This is a big few days for the CBS Sunday public affairs show “Face the Nation.” Today the show launched a shiny new website, which is heavy on graphic elements. On Sunday the guest will be Vice President Joe Biden, a big get for any show. And of course the biggest thing: on Sunday “Face the Nation” expands from a half-hour to a full-hour, putting it on par with its competition on NBC, ABC and Fox.

Moderator Bob Schieffer spoke to the AP’s David Bauder about the move, saying he “almost fainted” when he got the news that the show would be expanding:

“Tim [Russert] was the best of the best,” Schieffer said. “But the fact of the matter is what propelled them to No. 1 is they went to an hour and they were the first to do that. When they did that, it left us in the dust.”

Schieffer repeatedly nagged his bosses to follow suit. He made the same speech when Jeff Fager and David Rhodes took over last year, not expecting much. When they gave the go-ahead, Schieffer said, “I nearly fainted.”

Update: For what it’s worth, the first show to actually go an hour was “This Week with David Brinkley,” back in 1981.

NBC’s “Meet the Press” is responding by tweaking its own format. With moderator David Gregory on vacation, Savannah Guthrie will conduct the newsmaker interviews.  Joe Scarborough will moderate the political roundtable, which will include his “Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski as well as David Brooks, Tom Friedman, Jon Meacham, and Harold Ford, Jr.

NBC News and Newsweek-The Daily Beast are partnering on 2012 election coverage. Under the content-sharing agreement, NWDB will get access to NBC’s political reporters and content, and will be able to use MSNBC.com’s video player for content. NWDB may also get some sort of role in future debates, though what that might entail is still unclear.

NBC doesn’t get quite as much in return. The network gets to reach more users and readers with its political content, and gets to open up the door to future collaboration with the Newsweek and Daily Beast brands. In some respects it is  throwback for NBC News, which had a close relationship with Newsweek back when it was owned by the Washington Post. Many Newsweek regulars such as Jon Meacham and Howard Fineman regularly appeared on NBC programming.

The deal is the second high-profile partnership between a network news division and a more traditional print outlet. CBS News and National Journal announced a partnership to cover the 2012 election last summer.

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MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” team of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are writing a joint memoir that will come out next fall. According to Mike Allen’s Playbook, Mika and Joe: Our American Stories “will explore their lives leading up to their remarkable collaboration in creating the hottest brand in political television.”

The book will be published by Random House EVP and executive editor Jon Meacham, often a guest on “Morning Joe.” It was Meacham who also suggested former “Morning Joe” EP Chris Licht write about his near-death experience, which he did, in What I Learned When I Almost Died.

On her own Brzezinski has authored empowerment book Knowing Your Value and the memoir All Things At Once. Scarborough is the author of The Last Best Hope and Rome Wasn’t Burnt in a Day.

We’re thinking it’s time for Willie Geist to pen a sequel to his book: American Freak Show.

Coming off the news last night that Jon Meacham would be stepping down as co-host of the PBS program “Need to Know,” The NY Times reports that Bill Moyers is eyeing a return to public television.

Moyers, whose PBS program “Bill Moyers Journal” was replaced by “Need to Know” last May, has received a grant from the Carnegie Foundation to develop a new program, “Something Different with Bill Moyers.”

Mr. Moyers, in an e-mail statement, confirmed that his company has been discussing a potential weekly series, as well as other projects, and said he was pleased that the Carnegie Corporation had offered the first grant. “But,” he added, the announcement “is premature because we are in conversations with other funders which take time to conclude. We have discussed various possibilities with PBS as one potential source of distribution, but have no idea about a possible airdate, if in fact we proceed.”

Would you watch a new Moyers show on PBS? Let us know in the comments.

Jon Meacham is leaving his weekly TV show, “Need to Know” which is produced by New York PBS station, WNET. Alison Stewart, former MSNBC and ABC News anchor, will be the show’s solo host.

Meacham is staying on with WNET and will lead a new series of called “Perspectives” which will air on TV and online. He’ll also continue to contribute to “Need to Know.”

“I love Alison and the Need to Know team, but I don’t think the broadcast needs me as a co-anchor,” Meacham said. “When I told Neal [Shapiro, president of WNET] that I would be leaving, he very kindly asked me to consider this other possibility. It’s a great idea for me, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Meacham, who is a familiar face on cable news left his job as editor of Newsweek after The Washington Post sold it last year. In October he joined Random House as EVP and Executive Editor.

FishbowlNY’s Diane Clehane was at her usual Wednesday perch at Michael’s Restaurant where media types do lunch. And it was an interesting mix of TV news talent and execs. Including table 5:

5. CNBC’s Joe Kernen, who upon arrival bellowed, “Is Welch here yet? ” Minutes later, Jack Welch‘s appearance was a lot quieter but turned a lot more heads.

But Welch wasn’t the only chairman in the house. Fox News’s top man Roger Ailes pulled up a chair at table 4…

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The weekly PBS newsmagazine “Need to Know” is in the awkward position of not knowing what its future holds. As The NY Times notes, PBS has not decided whether to renew the program yet.

Like all PBS programs, the show is produced by a local station, in this case New York’s WNET.org. WNET has been receiving feedback from other stations that broadcast the show, both positive and negative.

One thing that seems clear: of the two anchors, Alison Stewart and Jon Meacham, Stewart looks far more comfortable in front of the camera. So if changes do get made in a second season, it looks like Meacham might be in the hot seat.

As the Times notes, it comes down to the budget:

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NBC News, through market research firm Vision Critical, has put out a survey asking consumers about the Sunday morning public affairs shows, with a particular focus on “Meet the Press” and ABC’s “This Week,” according to a copy obtained by TVNewser.

There were a number of questions about the two programs, covering everything from the perceived ideology of the hosts David Gregory and Christiane Amanpour, to the makeup of guests on the programs. Other questions asked about the pace of the two shows, and the humor of Amanpour and Gregory. Apparently CBS’ “Face the Nation” and Fox’s “Fox News Sunday” did not make the cut, as they did not get singled out for questions.

With regard to “Meet the Press,” the “roundtable” portion of the program seems to be of particular interest to the network.

The survey asks whether respondents prefer the roundtable portion of the show or the newsmaker interview portion, and then asks about the composition of guests on the roundtable.

It also lists 18 people who are either regulars on the roundtable, or semi-regulars, and asks respondents to rate them on their appearances. Among the names:

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Our sister blog FishbowlNY has been all over the sale of Newsweek to tycoon Sidney Harman. Among the news: Newsweek editor Jon Meacham will leave the venerable magazine once the sale is complete. Meacham of course also hosts “Need to Know” on PBS, with Alison Stewart. Will his departure from Newsweek affect his hosting duties on PBS? Stay tuned…