The New York Times’ Richard Perez-Pena breaks the news of who Martin Eisenstadt really is. Or rather, who he’s not — an advisor to Sen. John McCain.

Instead, the duo behind the character that caused MSNBC’s David Shuster to report, albeit temporarily, a supposed source of Carl Cameron‘s story about Gov. Sarah Palin are Eitan Gorlin and Dan Mirvish, two filmmakers who have created an elaborate hoax that has lasted for more than a year.

“To be very clear, no, we were not the source for Carl Cameron and never spoke to him,” Mirvish tells TVNewser. “We took credit for his anonymous sourcing. If they were going to be cowards, then we figured we may as well step in.”

How did they come up with the name Martin Eisenstadt? “All the neocons in the Bush administration had Jewish last names and Christian first names,” said Gorlin to the Times.

The reveal by the Times couldn’t have come on a better day for the hoaxers: A fake New York Times is circulating around the country today, ensuring the whole ruse can continue.

As the John Edwards affair story continues to sink in, it’s time for some mainstream media self-reflection.

The New York Times’ Richard Perez-Pena and Bill Carter look at why there was a, “reticence of the mainstream media,” in covering the story.

After noting MSNBC only touched on the story by way of a David Letterman clip and CNN did not mention the story once (well, that information sounds familiar), CNN political director Sam Feist weighs in. He says CNN, “had been working the story since it first broke in The Enquirer late last year,” but, “You have to have some sort of evidence before you put something on the air.”

The Times looks inward as well, and echoes a sentiment brought up throughout the article: “Bill Keller, the executive editor, said in an e-mail message that Mr. Edwards’s dark-horse status and the ‘added hold-your-nose quality about The Enquirer’ contributed to the lack of interest by The Times and the mainstream media generally.”

News Corp. reported higher than expected earning yesterday, up 27% for the quarter and 57% for the fiscal year.

Much of the thanks goes to Fox News Channel. The New York Times cites, “improved performance by Fox News Channel,” as one of the key factors for the gains. “Operating income rose 10 percent for the quarter, and 16 percent for the year, to $1.27 billion, on the strength of higher affiliate fees and advertising rates charged by Fox News Channel,” writes Richard Perez-Pena.

The Los Angeles Times’ Dawn C. Chmielewski reports the big FNC gains as well, while noting, “[News Corp. COO Peter] Chernin said this helped offset the $160 million in first-year losses associated with starting up the Fox Business Network and the Big Ten Network.”

>A week after having already reported for the Today Show, Nightly News and MSNBC, NBC made it official this morning: “Lee Cowan has been named NBC News correspondent, effective immediately.” Cowan, who comes to NBC from CBS, will be based in Chicago.

>Richard Perez-Pena writes about the “stark choices” facing the Bancroft family as they meet in Boston today to decide whether or not to sell Dow Jones to Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp.

>A Sunday Business story in The Times asks is GE “too big for its own good?” The big question in media circles: what will Chairman Jeff Immelt do about the “troubled NBC Universal franchise.” The story claims “NBC looks safe until after the broadcast of the Summer Olympics next year.”