The episode was shot in March, when Griffin went to Washington to lobby for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. She summoned friends John King and Dana Bash — a “power couple” and “my friends for years” — to her Mayflower Hotel suite for a pre-Capitol Hill prep session.

In addition to advising Griffin on appropriate attire, Bash and King explain some of the key players in Congress. Griffin, in return, hinted at a crush on King. We guess newly-engaged, former Griffin crush Levi Johnston is so yesterday’s news.

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Johnston, the ex-fiancee of Sarah Palin‘s daughter Bristol, said that some of the comments he made about the family were not true.

As Michael Calderone at Yahoo! News notes, it is unclear exactly what statements were false, but CBS News and CNN, among other networks, interviewed Johnston about his relationship with the family.

Also, an inquiry into the “Climategate” scandal cleared all of the scientists involved of wrongdoing. In late 2009, internal documents from a team of researchers at the University of East Anglia in the UK were leaked, and reportedly showed an effort to cover-up data that did not support the theory that global climate change was real.

The latest review, released today, says that the science and conclusions the research unit came to were sound, and that they were not being deceitful in their emails, despite the appearance of being so.

Both subjects have been discussed on cable news today, but by and large they have been brushed under the table and relegated to news briefs. Fox News and MSNBC covered the Johnston apology, but did not address the “Climategate” report at all. CNN covered both, but did not dwell on the subjects for long.

These two incidents raise an interesting question: both dominated their respective news cycles, taking up hours of coverage on the cable news channels and on the broadcast news programs.

Now that the original “controversies” appear to be less so, do news organizations have any obligation to go back and inform their viewers of the new developments?

continued…

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Ahead of his Playgirl photoshoot, Levi Johnston is putting it all out for CBS’ Maggie Rodriguez in an interview that airs tomorrow on “The Early Show.” Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin‘s grandson, says he doesn’t want to hurt Palin, but he knows things that could do just that:

Maggie: But you really sound like somebody whose dead set on hurting these people the way they hurt you.

Levi: No, I’m not really in it to hurt them though.

Maggie: That’s what it sounds like…somebody whose bent on revenge and getting even, now it’s my turn.

Levi: Well that’s part of it, I guess, but at the same time, you know, if she’s going to go out there and say things to me, about me, I’m going to leak some things on her. I mean that’s just how it is.

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Johnston then turned up on CBS’s The Early Show, because, well, it’s a great booking.

CBS even played a clip from ABC. And in an interesting
behind-the-scenes nugget, take a look at how the CBS transcript refers to anchor Chris Cuomo, who conducted the GMA interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you decide about how you let the father, Levi Johnston, be in this child’s life? What are you going to do about that?

BRISTOL PALIN, LEVI JOHNSTON’S FORMER FIANCEE: Well, I’d love Levi to be a part of his life, and I know he will be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you’re good on that. No matter how you feel about the father, about Levi, you do want him in the child’s life.

PALIN: Yes. Of course.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

PALIN: Every child needs a father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Unidentified male? Nice, CBS. We’ll identify him for you: it’s Chris Cuomo. And we’re pulling out the snark-o-meter on this quote from an ABC insider: “Since CBS can’t identify its own morning anchors, I guess it’s the same for the other morning shows, too.”

Anyway, Johnston did agree with his former fiancee that abstinence “is a great idea,” but added, “it’s not going to work. It’s not realistic.” As for whether he and Bristol used birth control during their relationship, Johnston said, “I was using condoms, but, you know, there’s a few times, you know, we didn’t. And that’s what happened. We had a kid.”

Yup, Levi. That’s what happens. You have a kid.

Click continued to see the clip from The Early Show…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.