Quizzical mustache John Stossel, the former ABC Newsman who took his stories about how poor people are faking it to Fox News two years ago, continues to humiliate his former employer in his absence. Today, four years after Stossel falsely accused a pastor of leading a lavish lifestyle in a 20/20 segment, the network was forced to issue an apology.
In your maddened Monday media column: fewer reporters are on the news-free White House travel beat, John Stossel demands unpaid interns, George Rush may take a buyout, and a Channel 13 employee's epic email on his way out the door.
• Diane Sawyer has confirmed that she will end her decade-long run as co-anchor of Good Morning America this week. Friday's her last day. [LAT]
• Meanwhile, Chris Cuomo's role at ABC is up in the air. He's denied rumors he plans to jump to NBC, and may end up as co-anchor of 20/20. [NYDN, prev]
• Today was the deadline for New York Times staffers to take the buyout package that was offered to employees last fall. A list of people expected to exit the paper in the near future is now making the rounds. [Gawker]
• NBC might be ranked fourth in the ratings, but Comcast says it has no plans to sell NBC Universal's broadcast TV business when it takes over. [AP]
• MTV's Jersey Shore is one of two new reality shows stirring up criticism; now Domino's Pizza has decided to pull its advertising from the show. [NYT, TVG]
• Oxygen is developing a new reality show with Russell Simmons that will "focus on the women in his life." That should be interesting. [THR]
• Is Nancy Grace responsible for pushing a woman to commit suicide? [AP]
• John Stossel is happier at Fox than he was at ABC, unsurprisingly. [TDB]
• The Blind Side surpassed New Moon at the box office this weekend. [MTV]
ABC announced last month that Diane Sawyer would depart Good Morning America at the end of the year to replace Charles Gibson as anchor of ABC's World News. Now we hear that the morning show's co-anchor, Chris Cuomo, is leaving the program as well. According to a well-placed source, Cuomo plans to move over to 20/20, taking over for John Stossel who left ABC in September to join Fox News and Fox Business.
• It looks like there's a new frontrunner to take over BusinessWeek. Mayor Bloomberg's media company, Bloomberg LP, has bypassed Bruce Wasserstein as the leading contender to take over the McGraw-Hill-owned mag. [NYP]
• After close to three decades at ABC News, John Stossel is leaving the network to join Fox News and Fox Business Channel. [FNC, TVN]
• Not all magazines are closing down or trimming operations. Cesar Millan and IMG have launched a title for dog owners called Cesar's Way. [WSJ]
• There's been an editorial shakeup at O, The Oprah Magazine. [NYP, WWD]
• Will this season be the last for Oprah Winfrey's daytime talk show? [NYDN]
• Graydon Carter appears to have been granted a pass. The Vanity Fair editor reports he hasn't been forced to sit down with the flock of cost-cutting McKinsey consultants now prowling the halls of Condé Nast. [NYO]
• A judge has tossed out a lawsuit by Missy Chase Lapine, the author who claims Jessica Seinfeld ripped off her cookbook last year. [AP]
• According to the Wall Street Journal, "Bonnet books," or Amish love stories, are "a booming new subcategory of the romance genre." Who knew? [WSJ]
• The New York Blade, one of the two big gay and lesbian newspapers in New York City, has suspended publication and laid off most of its staff. [NYT]
• How many books can you possibly read about Bernie Madoff? Who knows, but there at least four books about him scheduled to hit stores this fall. [Crains]
• David Rohde, the New York Times reporter who was kidnapped in Afghanistan with his translator in November and released a couple of weeks ago, returned to the Times newsroom to a standing ovation yesterday. [NYT]
• James Frey's young adult novel has been sold to HarperCollins. [NYT]
• Wonkette editor Ken Layne has sold a book to HarperCollins, too. [NYO]
• The battle between CNBC's Dennis Kneale and bloggers goes on. [Dealbreaker]
A bunch of celebrities are now offering guided cell phone tours to Central Park. Anne Hathaway will introduce you to the Delacorte Theater, Matthew Broderick will show you around Sheep Meadow, Isabella Rossellini will escort you through the gay hookup zone of the Ramble, and Jerry Seinfeld will describe the stunning view of Central Park he has from his apartment at the Beresford. (Okay, fine, we made the last one up.) It's a free service. You call 646-862-0997 and then punch in a code that corresponds to each celebrity tour. We haven't tried it, so we can't weigh in on what it's like to hear John Stossel share his thoughts on the Balto statue, but if you feel like calling and letting us know what it's like, you're more than welcome to. [Central Park Audio Guide]
20/20 co-anchor John Stossel turns 62 today, which means that mustache of his has been planted on his face for close to four decades now. Comedian and recently-axed CNN host D.L. Hughley is turning 46. New York Philharmonic director Lorin Maazel is 79. Adolfo Carrion, Barack Obama's new director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, is 48. Composer Stephen Schwartz is turning 61. Film director/producer Rob Reiner is 62. Disgraced Wall Streeter Ivan Boesky is 72. Gabriel García Márquez is 82. Shaquille O'Neal is turning 37. Tom Arnold is 50. And a hospitalized Ed McMahon turns 86 today. Weekend birthdays below!
Mustachioed know-it-all Stossel spent more than 25 years with ABC's 20/20 before decamping to Fox News and Fox Business in the fall of 2009 for his own gig, the cleverly named Stossel.
• Campbell Brown, you naughty girl! The Today show interim co-host flashes her inexplicable ankle tat — no idea what that's supposed to be, but she really should've gone for a fairy or a dolphin. [Animal]
• "Management thought it was very important that Dan Abrams hire someone he wouldn't try to fuck." [FishbowlNY]
• Remember Friendster? Vaguely, even? They've been awarded a patent for their search methods and may be awarded another in the near future. MySpace pretends to shake in its enormous boots. [WSJ]
• Scarlett Johansson is becoming increasingly suspect of touching human petri dish Wilmer Valderrama. [HWoW]
• Who doesn't want to see John Stossel get slapped? [iFilm]
• Fall asleep to the sounds of Brooklyn hipsters and enjoy your inevitable nightmares on Bedford street. [BrooklynRadio]
• Palm Beach Police Chief thinks naughty financier Jeffrey Epstein is getting off easy (ba dum dum). [The Blotter]
John Stossel, scourge of self-appointed "experts" (and wrestling fans) everywhere, takes to the pages of The Sun this morning to tell us that one more thing we know is wrong: It's okay to marry your cousin! See, a lot of big government advocates, movie folks, and science types want you to believe that procreating with someone whose genetic code is dangerously similar to yours might result in children who suffer from the disabilities that you'd expect with interbreeding. But are they right? Not according to John, who uses the flawless argument of providing anecdotal evidence concerning a few folks for whom it has all worked out, plus the slightly disingenuous method of refusing to make distinctions in degrees of familial separation. No matter; marrying your cousin is a-ok! (And if you're tempted to make a red state joke, remember who we had as mayor for eight years). We've got to say, we always knew libertarians wanted to get government off our backs; we just had no idea that they wanted to save that space for mom's nephew.
