What’s Ken Starr up to these days? According to Virginia court documents, the famously pious former Clinton prosecutor recently pleaded with a Fairfax County judge to let a confessed child molester go free. Because he’s a family friend. Here’s the letter.
Tucked away in a Washington Post story about a Potomac high school teacher accused of molesting female students over a thirty-year period is the fact that more than 90 people — including former ABC World News anchor Charlie Gibson and former special prosecutor Kenneth Starr — wrote letters on his behalf.
Howell Raines hit out at Fox News for ruining political debate. But it's not just Fox. By softballing and coddling interviewees, all of television news has helped politicians get away with appalling lies, distortions and… being Sarah Palin.
Today at Gawker.TV, time lapse footage of the weekend's snowpocalypse filmed in Brooklyn, graffiti outside of Serge Gainsbourg's Paris home, Charlie Gibson's sign-off, more "Little People" shows on TLC, and Kathie Lee Gifford once again says proves her ignorance on-air.
Charlie Gibson delivered a heartfelt goodbye on Friday saying, "It's hard to walk away from what I honestly think is the best job in the world but my parents taught me you should understay—not overstay—your welcome."
Carrie Prejean is horrifed by Shauna Sand's attempt to inspire her; Bijou Phillips' incest movie was a lot less creepy before Mackenzie wrote that book; 50 Cent has some tattoos removed. Et voila, Wednesday's gossip!
In moving Diane Sawyer from GMA to World News Tonight next year, ABC News is shifting a star resource from a hugely profitable morning show to a dying legacy newscast. All so she can sleep in a few hours later.
SARAH PALIN: "It has always been an embarrassment that abuse of the ear form — earmark process has been accepted in Congress." [ABC]
Harris Poll asked TV viewers, both Democrat and Republican, to name their favorite and least liked news personalities. The results of the survey, crunched and displayed on our chart, are fascinating.
ABC "World News" anchor Charlie Gibson wasn't interested in funning around with T.V. comedian Stephen Colbert and his fake campaign against "wrist violence," even though other big T.V. anchors did. HuffPo blogger Rachel Sklar talks to the Times about going on the Colbert show: "It's a test. If you play along, you're funny and cool, and if you don't, you're stiff and boring. How people like Brian Williams and Katie Couric react to him are an indication of what they are really like—their instinctive reactions are measures of their good humor and authenticity and humanity." That is SICK. It's the worst, most antijournalism, most cult-of-personalityish, upside-down end-of-days take on what newsreaders, even in their current reduced state, should be that we've heard in ages. Also: Those appearances exhibit Katie Couric's authenticity? Yeah. No. Maybe the opposite of authenticity actually.
"Can it be true that, as Charlie Gibson seems to prove at ABC's "World News," the news audience likes getting 22 minutes from older gray-haired men?" Eww, Liz Smith. Just eww. [NYP]
That compares to ABC's 89 cents for Charlie Gibson watchers and NBC's 55 cents for bargain Brian Williams. To be fair, you've got to figure in the extra medical costs that the old people who watch CBS incur. [NYP]
A letter to Romenesko, sent to us as well, by ABC News Senior Vice President Jeffrey W. Schneider begins: "There are glaring errors in Alessandra Stanley's column today." At this point there's little more to do than shrug one's shoulders and mutter the Hebrew from the Passover question. We're not sure how something like this could have happened!
Congratulations to former ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas and husband Marc Cohn, proud parents of another baby boy. Little Severance Wyatt Cohn arrived on Wednesday weighing seven pounds, nine ounces. The boy was born with a "full head of hair" and the lifelong burden of having to hear how he killed his mother's career.
• Young people like iPods, social networking, the internet. Reading newspapers? Not so much. You're shocked, right? Who keeps putting up the money to fund these studies? [Guardian]
• Wait, young people! If you promise to watch the news, Brian Williams will read your e-mails and Katie Couric will blog for you! Not curmudgeonly uncle Charlie Gibson, though. He just wants you to sit down, shut up, and listen to what he's saying. [NYP]
• We would pay good money to see a bare-knuckle fight between Bill Cosby and Len Downie. Seriously. [Romenesko]
