Thomas Roberts issued a correction on his MSNBC program this morning after he reported a satirical article that appeared in Huffington Post Comedy section as news yesterday.

The article, written by Scott Wooledge, said that Apple and Microsoft held a joint press conference to demand the National Organization for Marriage boycott them, as the group is currently doing to Starbucks. It quoted fake spokespeople for the two companies, including one from Microsoft that said, “So what gives? … What about us? We’ve even got a rainbow in our logo. Boycott us, National Organization for Marriage! Now!”

It also included a disclaimer at the bottom that said, “This piece is satirical. All quotations are fabrications for the purpose of satire.”

“Upon closer inspection, at the end of the article it says it was satirical,” Roberts said today. “We take issues of equality very seriously, not as satire. It was my error.”

Actual news got in the way of last night’s annual New York fundraiser for the journalism group NLGJA. Soledad O’Brien, who was to co-host with her HLN colleague Jane Velez-Mitchell, couldn’t as she moderated CNN’s Trayvon Martin town hall which airs tonight.

• Related: Behind the Scenes at CNN’s Trayvon Martin Town Hall

Don Lemon jetted up from Atlanta to co-host with Velez-Mitchell, who mixed and mingled before making a beeline for Time Warner Center herself to participate in the town hall.

Velez-Mitchell made the biggest splash of the night when, during her welcome remarks to the crowd, she pulled her girlfriend on stage and planted a big kiss on her. “I won’t be doing that!” Lemon joked. “Ben doesn’t like that kind of thing,” he said glancing over to his partner, Ben Tinker, who is a producer in CNN’s medical unit.

CNN managing editor Mark Whitaker talked about his network’s commitment to diversity in the ranks and on the air. CNN was the lead sponsor for the event which was held at the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams showroom in SoHo.

Also spotted in the crowd: NBC News VP Alex Wallace, former “Today” show co-anchor Meredith Vieira, “CBS This Morning” co-host Erica Hill, MSNBC’s Willie Geist, former MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer and Fox News meteorologist Rick Reichmuth.

We chatted with FBN’s Gerri Willis who told us she has a new appreciation for the work of the Supreme Court after anchoring her show from Washington during oral arguments on the health care law. We also caught up with Fox News’s Alisyn Camerota and new Fox News political analyst Sally Kohn, who is settling in to her role as progressive pundit both on air and online, which

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Twice this week an MSNBC host interviewed an empty chair, but both situations were not created equal. First, MSNBC 10 PM host Lawrence O’Donnell interviewed an empty chair when a lawyer for George Zimmerman (the man accused shooting Trayvon Martin) bailed at the last minute:

The second time time it wasn’t one of MSNBC’s political commentators that feigned outrage, it was one of the network’s news anchors. Thomas Roberts was slated to interview the National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher, but the camera feed showed an empty chair, with Roberts saying that Gallagher didn’t show up (h/t Inside Cable News):

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NBC/MSNBC anchor Veronica De La Cruz‘s “Hope for Hearts” foundation raised $8,000 at a New York fundraiser last week.

Nearly 150 guests from the media, entertainment, banking and other sectors packed the Vinatta Project in the Meatpacking District for the fundraiser. De La Cruz co-hosted the event with MSNBC colleagues Thomas Roberts and Richard Lui.

De La Cruz started the foundation in honor of her brother Eric De La Cruz who died in 2009 of severe cardiomyopathy while awaiting a heart transplant. De La Cruz was 27 years old.

Much of the proceeds raised Tuesday will go to Kelly Salerno of Connecticut. Salaerno’s son Colby, 24, also suffers from cardiomyopathy and is awaiting a transplant.

“The people and companies who came together to donate money, items and their presence at this event have shown their strong support for Hope For Hearts’ work,” said De La Cruz. “We are overwhelmed and so appreciative of their assistance.”

Time for the results of the TVNewser Challenge. One year ago, we asked, and you answered, making predictions for the Year in TV News. And just to let you, we’ll publish our 2012 TVNewser Challenge tomorrow afternoon.

Where will Katie Couric be working at the end of 2011?

CBS News — 38%
CNN — 12%
Her own syndicated show — 13%
Some combination — 18%
None of the above — 19%

Most of you said she’d still be at CBS News. But by April, she’d decided to leave the Tiffany network and landed a deal with Disney/ABC to develop her own syndicated show — which 13% of you said would happen. She’s also working on projects for ABC News.

How many of CNN’s primetime programs (Parker Spitzer, Piers Morgan Tonight, AC360) will be airing in the same timeslot, if at all, at the end of the year?

0 — 11%
1 — 40%
2 — 43%
3 — 6%

43% of you were right on this one. Two of CNN’s shows: “Piers Morgan Tonight” at 9pm and “Anderson Cooper 360″ at 10pm are in their same timeslots. Although AC360 is a reair of the 8pmET show, which replaced “Parker Spitzer,” which was renamed “In the Arena” in February after Parker left.

Will Fox Business Network or Bloomberg become rated by Nielsen in 2011?

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On “Hardball” this evening, Chris Matthews apologized for a story that ran in an earlier hour on MSNBC. During the 11amET hour, anchor Thomas Roberts read this short item:

So you may not hear Mitt Romney say Keep America American anymore, because it was a rallying cry for the KKK group, and intimidation against blacks, gays and Jews. The Progressive American blog was the first to catch on to that.

Matthews called it “irresponsible and incendiary” to run the story, adding, “it showed an appalling lack of judgment. We apologize. We really do, to the Romney campaign.”

People across the country today participated in “Spirit Day,” wearing purple as a sign of support for LGBT youth. The movement, started by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, counted several visible people as champions of the anti-bullying cause: morning anchors, evening anchors and cable anchors on several networks were color-coordinated today.

On the morning shows:

On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts participated, as did Ann Curry and Al Roker on NBC’s “Today.” All four co-hosts on “The View” — Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck — were decked out in purple as well.

After the jump, see who on the evening news and who on cable participated. Read more

MSNBC hosts Dylan Ratigan and Ed Schultz, (both guests guests during much-less heated episodes of MediaBeat) got into a very heated argument following President Obama’s press conference this afternoon, only ending when Schultz removed his earpiece and essentially pulled himself off of the program.

Update: Ratigan hosted Schultz on his program later in the day, and apologized again. Watch here.

The pair were discussing the president’s jobs plan, with Ratigan delivering a longish but passionate commentary on what he thought it meant. Anchor Thomas Roberts then asked Schultz for his thoughts, and Schultz responded, only to be interrupted by Ratigan:

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It’s all hands on deck for the cable news networks, even though many of those hands will be in the path of Hurricane Irene (satellite image above from 2:17pmET.)

• Fox News is planning to preempt the business block tomorrow from 10am-NoonET as well as “Huckabee,” and Jeanine Pirro tomorrow night. “Fox & Friends” goes on an hour early. And Shepard Smith will be in to anchor much of the weekend coverage.

• CNN, which has its weekend programming originate from Atlanta, is planning extended coverage Saturday night from 8pmET-Midnight anchored by Kyra Phillips (whose fiance John Roberts is covering Irene from the Outer Banks for FNC) and Martin Savidge. Wolf Blitzer will anchor a 3-hour “Situation Room” from Washington Saturday from 5pm-8pmET. (Regular weekend night anchor Don Lemon is in Philadelphia where he’ll do a Q&A with TVNewser’s Gail Shister at the annual NLGJA conference tomorrow.) CNN is back on the air at 5am Sunday with T.J. Holmes, Candy Crowley picks up at 9am and NoonET, Fredricka Whitfield as usual in the afternoons and Sunday night programming from 6pmET-Midnight with Randi Kaye and Savidge.

• MSNBC’s Chris Jansing will anchor “Hardball” tonight at 5pm & 7pm, with a Hurricane focus. Thomas Roberts is on from 10pmET-Midnight. The network, which normally goes to tape on Saturdays and Sundays at NoonET will be in extended coverage all weekend. Veronica De La Cruz anchors early mornings, Alex Witt anchors until Noon, Tamron Hall from Noon-5pmET, Jansing from 5-10pmET and Roberts picks up at 10pm.

And it will be an especially long weekend for all the newsers who live and work in New York City. Mass transit (subways, buses, commuter railroads) in New York City and the suburbs will be shut down as of Noon tomorrow.

Parliament has temporarily suspended the testimony of Rupert and James Murdoch after a man appeared to attack the elder Murdoch with what Reuters describes as a plate with foam on it.

All three cable news channels cut away from the testimony immediately afterward. Fox News turned to a simulcast of Sky News. Richard Quest anchored on CNN and Thomas Roberts and Contessa Brewer on MSNBC, as all networks replayed the attack in slow motion and from different angles including showing Murdoch’s wife Wendi Deng (in pink jacket, below) coming to Murdoch’s defense, slapping the attacker.

Testimony resumed around 12:09pmET.