If you watch “Morning Joe” you may already know this, but Mika Brzezinski is obsessed. Now she’s written a book — her third — about one particular obsession: America’s food addiction, and her own.

Brzezinski was feted at a book launch event last evening overlooking Central Park, where her morning partner Joe Scarborough described the root of Mika’s obsession: “If you know the Brzezinski family, you know why she has the issues she has,” Scarborough joked. “They are crazy, brilliant, and always striving for perfection.”

In “Obsessed” Brzezinski describes her history of food obsession, distorted body image and her struggle to be thin. It is dedicated to her two teenage daughters, Emilie and Carlie. “Girls, this book is for you,” Brzezinski said in her remarks as she asked them to “get off Snapchat and come forward.”

“I don’t want it to take 30 years for you to realize what it has taken me to realize.”

In the crowed, we spotted NBC’s Willie Geist, iVillage’s Kelly Wallace, CBS’s Leslie Stahl, MSNBC President Phil Griffin and CBS News chairman Jeff Fager. The “Morning Joe” crew was there including EP Alex Korson and former EP, now CBS News VP of programming Chris Licht. Also, Donny Deutsch, Joy Behar, Tina Brown and Sir Harold Evans.

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The “Today” show had a backstage pass for last night’s TIME 100 gala in New York. Matt Lauer conducted interviews with the honorees and a segment aired this morning. Joining Vice President Joe Biden, Marissa Mayer, Jimmy Fallon, Claire Danes, Jimmy Kimmel, Sen. Rand Paul, Lena Dunham and Daniel Day-Lewis a the event were tvnewsers including CNN honcho Jeff Zucker, MSNBC boss Phil Griffin, Barbara Walters, Gayle King, Norah O’Donnell, Alex Wagner, Willie Geist and Alina Cho. By next year’s TIME 100, the magazine will likely be part of a new company, spun off from Time Warner, which Managing Editor Rick Stengel acknowledged in his speech, “An independent Time Inc. will show the power of great journalism, the power of great content to pay for itself.”

Not only is Fox News getting knocked (though CNN is taking the brunt) for inaccurate coverage from Boston Wednesday, the network is also being criticized for not covering Pres. Obama’s Rose Garden statement following the Senate defeat of a key piece of new gun legislation.

At 5:41pm, as the broadcast and cable networks were all carrying the remarks, “The Five” co-host Greg Gutfeld took viewers to the White House to listen in. 20 seconds later, producers returned to the panel show: “That’s all we are doing?” said Gutfeld, seeming to question the decision.

NYT’s Brian Stelter expands on that moment to write about the glaring differences in the gun debate on two cable news channels: Fox News and MSNBC. Writes Stelter:

The decision not to show the president’s angry rejoinder to the Senate vote — or to cover the vote in any real detail an hour earlier — was the latest example of Fox’s evident lack of interest in the gun violence debate that has captivated so many other media outlets.

MSNBC president Phil Griffin calls Fox’s decision, “a disgrace,” adding, “This is one of the critical issues of the day, and MSNBC’s been on it.”

Fox News, which rarely lets a competitive swipe get by, responds, “Phil’s network of partisan pundits have to rely on the talents of Brian Williams and NBC News to cover basic news events. So him calling anything a disgrace in regards to news coverage is ironic considering he oversees one daily.”

But this is yet another political issue — no matter how firmly you believe it shouldn’t be political — that is being covered contrastingly on these networks. Even if Fox News has been downplaying coverage of the gun debate, and even if MSNBC has been playing it up, Fox News’s Gutfeld seemed to recognize the merit of hearing the President out. At the end of “The Five,” Gutfeld apologized: “I want to apologize for cutting out of the Obama presser. I think it should have been handled better.”

If you were watching Fox, here’s what you missed the president say: “This effort is not over.” So, yes. There will be many more opportunities to cover, or not cover, the gun legislation debate. Immigration anyone?

The Washington Post‘s Paul Farhi pens a long piece on the state of CNN, now that Jeff Zucker has had a few months in charge. While CNN has had significant ratings troubles, and Farhi talks to an analyst who says the channel has been losing revenue, there is still one area where CNN has an edge over competitors Fox News and MSNBC:

CNN still captures a premium from advertisers relative to competitors. Baine estimates that sponsors pay $5.96 to reach a thousand viewers on CNN, compared with $5.02 for a thousand on Fox and $4.19 on MSNBC.

Why? “It’s a safer place to be” for advertisers, says Gabriel Kahn, co-director of the media economics and entre­pre­neur­ship program at USC’s Annenberg journalism school. “It can be a more boring place to be a viewer, but for an advertiser, you’re not going to hear: ‘Obama was born in Indonesia. Let’s go to a commercial!’ ”

It is worth noting that the figure has tightened over the last few years, with FNC and MSNBC rising at CNN’s expense. Still, for Zucker, he has to try and raise the ratings without scaring away big brand advertisers, who may be jittery about advertising on MSNBC or FNC for fear of alienating core buying groups. Farhi also talks to Zucker’s former colleague, MSNBC president Phil Griffin:
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The Hollywood Reporter released its 2013 “35 Most Powerful People In Media” list, and TV news dominates the winners. The list looks at the most dominant media personalities in New York.

The list includes (in alphabetical order) Roger Ailes, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, Anderson Cooper, Bob Costas, Katie Couric, Jeff Fager, Pat Fili-Krushel, James Goldston, Phil Griffin, Sean Hannity, Megyn Kelly, the “60 Minutes” team, the “Today” team, Rachel Maddow, Piers Morgan, Bill O’Reilly, Scott Pelley, David Rhodes, The “Good Morning America” team, the “CBS This Morning” team, Diane Sawyer, Ben Sherwood, Barbara Walters, Brian Williams and Jeff Zucker.

Some of the recipients gave interviews, others did not. You can see the full list here.

Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC president Phil Griffin and the UAE’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba threw a 50th birthday bash for Joe Scarborough last night in Washington, DC.

According to Politico, Scarborough thought they were coming to D.C. for a speech, instead, on the rooftop of 101 Constitution Ave., Scarborough was treated to a “this is your life” with friends and family. “We have your life covered here completely, from Boston to Los Angeles to Florida to New York to Washington. Everybody is here,” said Brzezinski.

“You can sit back and relax and just hang with your family because, actually, we are going to talk tonight — and you’re not going to say a word.”

Among the guests: NBC/MSNBC’s Willie Geist, David Gregory, Luke Russert, Mike Barnicle, Andrea Mitchell, Kelly O’Donnell and Lawrence O’Donnell. “Morning Joe” EP Alex Korson and former EP Chris Licht and Licht’s boss’s boss at CBS, Jeff Fager. Also, Walter Isaacson, Dan Senor, Nicolle Wallace, Bob Woodward and more.

(h/t Playbook)

MSNBC’s programming expansion on the weekends continues, as the channel has named Karen Finney as the host of a new program from 4-5 PM on Saturdays and Sundays. The name and launch date for the new show are still to be determined.

Finney has been an MSNBC contributor since 2009, and has a 20+ year career in politics. A former spokeswoman and communications director for the Democratic National Committee, Finney has worked for the Clinton White House and Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign. She has also served as communications director for the New York city school system, and for the late Elizabeth Edwards.

“Karen’s rich background in both education policy and politics will add a unique point of view to our expanding live weekend programming,” said Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC in a statement.

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While a lot of you are buzzing about Joe Hagan‘s New York cover story on the “Today” show, Rebecca Dana has a fascinating profile of MSNBC president Phil Griffin in the New Republic. The takeaways: how Griffin took the network left — and up — despite early reservations; his frenemy status with CNN president Jeff Zucker and his plans for the future of MSNBC: (Hint: less “Lockup” more lifestyle.

And there’s this, about the time 10 years ago when Griffin went across the street for a job interview with Fox News CEO Roger Ailes:

In 2003, when MSNBC was on deathwatch, Griffin found himself in Ailes’s office, on a job interview. As Griffin remembers it, the Fox News chief asked him where he went to college, and when Griffin told him Vassar, Ailes replied, “Liberal.”

“Why do you say that?” Griffin asked.

“Only liberals go there,” Ailes said.

Griffin walked out without a job offer, and that has pretty much been the extent of their interpersonal dealings over the years, though Ailes doesn’t think ill of him. “I’m fond of Phil Griffin,” Ailes told me. “He’s like the guy next door who wants to borrow your lawnmower. And he does a pretty good job of managing that mean-spirited circus over there. But let’s be honest, he built his whole career out of being in Jeff Zucker’s wedding party.”

(Photo: Spencer Heyfron for New Republic)

Steve Kornacki is the new host of MSNBC’s weekend morning program “Up,” MSNBC president Phil Griffin announced today.

Kornacki was previously a co-host on “The Cycle,” the network’s weekday 3 p.m. show. He is a senior political writer for Salon.com. “Steve has a great political mind and his ability to connect with viewers made him a natural fit to continue driving that dialogue,” Griffin said in a statement.

Kornacki replaces Chris Hayes, who is moving to primetime next month.

“I want to thank Chris Hayes and his team for creating a totally original and incredibly smart model for political television,” Kornacki said. “It’s a real honor and a real challenge to take his seat, and I’m excited by the chance to foster the same kind of lively and diverse conversations.”

MSNBC president Phil Griffin talks to The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove about this week’s primetime shakeup at the channel. Ed Schultz will move to the weekends next month, while Chris Hayes will take over the 8 PM slot. Griffin says that the move was, in fact, Schultz’s idea.

“This began with Ed coming to me,” Griffin insisted. “And I will tell you that Ed has an incredible following in the network… Ed and I were talking about his contract, and Ed is a very sharp guy. He said he wanted to be here long-term … He wanted to spend more time in Minnesota. I said, ‘Well, Ed, I am extending the weekend. I need someone for 5 to 7. It’s critical. It’s going to be as important as 8 to 10 [on weeknights].’ And he came back to me and said, ‘I want to do that long-term.’ ”

He also weighs in on what Hayes’ new program will look like:
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